The Taquito Diet
At De Las Mías we don’t normally use the word – ‘diet.’ Diets have gotten to be trite and boring, and we don’t like them very much. We know that if you go on a diet, the chances of you succeeding are slim. (No pun intended.)
Therefore, De Las Mías is not a diet club. We are a healthy lifestyle community. And we are here to help you take steps to be your healthiest self! We focus on the pleasure of eating and cooking good food. We don’t believe in deprivation, as evidenced by our “Poquito de Todo” philosophy. But because we are a healthy lifestyle community and we want to meet your needs, we do pay attention and many of you want to lose weight and want to get healthier and stronger.
We’re with you! We support you on your healthy lifestyle journey, but we don’t want you to go on a diet.
Proud Latinas
As you get to know De Las Mías better, you also know that we are proud of being Latinas, and we love nuestra comida. You will find De Las Mías recipes that are Mexican, New Mexican, and Southwestern. We are proud Latinas, Mexicanas and Chicanas and we want you to be proud too! We come from a rich Indo-Hispano tradition and we have a passion for our indigenous roots and foods!
As we grow and add more recipes and ideas on how to live healthier and more joyful lives, we want to add more ways that you can connect with your roots through your enjoyment of delicious, healthy food. And since most Latinas are both indigenous and Spanish, we want to fold in our love for the Mediterranean way of eating and enjoying food. So we are providing you with two ‘undiets’: The Mediterranean (Un)Diet and The Taquito (Un)Diet!
The Taquito (Un)Diet!
I am so proud of being Mexican! We are blessed with one of the most diverse, healthy and delicious foods in the world! Our Indigenous mothers and Spanish fathers, through many trials and tribulations combined to make us and our food, Mestizas! And what a beautiful combination that ended up to be. If you feel like geeking out on the origin of the taco, check out the Smithsonian: Where did the Taco Come From?
Take the humble taco, a portable bundle of deliciousness and health! It’s the perfect package of whole grains, lean protein, vegetables and even sometimes fruit!
You’ve heard of the grapefruit diet, the celery diet, the paleo diet, the Atkins diet, the blah-blah-blah diet! Now let me tell you about the Taquito Diet™, Baby! It’s a modular, delicious, nutritious and soul feeding pathway to health! You saw it here first!
Here is the skinny on the Taquito Diet:
1. You can make a healthy taco!
2. You can lose weight and enjoy your soul food while eating tacos.
3. You can mix and match, get creative and have fun while achieving a healthy lifestyle for you and your familia!
The taco could change your life! ¡Creélo! Believe, Comdres!
Here’s how it works:
1. Start with 3 corn tortillas.
We’re all about eating more whole grains and these thousand year old tortillas are a great low calorie, whole-grain, flavor-packed vehicle for all things deliciosa!
2. Make a sassy sofrito.
One of the very first things that my mother taught me about cooking is to always start with a sofrito. She said that my food would always be delicious if I started whatever I was doing with this magic concoction. It seems like every family has their own version of sofrito. My sister always adds a little fresh garlic, carrots and celery. My Ecuadoran consuegra calls it “Refrito,” and hers includes garlic, onion and achiote.
In our family, it meant simply frying up green chile, onion and tomato in a bit of olive oil before adding your meat, your eggs, or your frijoles de la olla. In Spain, sofrito almost always involves garlic and red pepper. So, the takeaway here is that almost all Spanish, Mexican and Latin American cooks use some kind of sofrito.
Hint: this is one place to add a veggie serving to your day.
3. Add a delicious meat or veggie heart!
A roasted chicken is an easy, simple way to fill your taquitos. Sometimes if we haven’t had a chance to cook dinner, I will stop by the market and get one of those rotisserie chickens that are already roasted. I remove the skin and chop it up for taquitos. I always start with the simple green chile, onion and tomato sofrito my mom taught me to make.
Carne asada is always a class taco choice. Or for the vegetarians in your life a delicious spicy cauliflower.
4. Top it off with soul-affirming salsa. ¡Qué viva el chilito!
Salsa is in our blood. Our indigenous ancestors were making salsas before the Spaniards landed. ¿Sabes qué? Mexican salsas originated with the Aztecs. And apparently, the Incas and Mayans were no slackers when it came up to making these tasty concoctions. (Ají, any one?) The base of a good salsa is, el chilito! You cannot have a good salsa without chiles, but the next most common ingredient is el tomate — the tomato.
Salsa, of course, has evolved and many other healthy ingredients were added such as cilantro, parsley, epazote and other spices, and lest we forget, the heroic avocado! Today, there are hundreds of different kinds of salsas. We love fruit salsas, like mango, peach and jicama salsa. Salsas can be raw or cooked. My own favorites are raw salsas, like Pico de Gallo with jalapeños or a good Hatch green chile, or even the humble Anaheim! But one thing is for sure, and that is that salsas are healthy foods that you can use in great abundance and feel good about it. Get your veggies here, Comadres!
Here are some of our favorite salsas:
- Corn and black bean salsa
- Cucumber radish salsa
- Ana’s chipotle salsa
- Roasted chile salsa
- Nectarine salsa (coming soon!)
5. Serve with a side of roasted veggies or raja de chile verde.
And just for safe measure another serving a veggies. 😉
Here are 4 Taquito Diet Recipes in our app to start you on your journey to a better taco!
- Tacos de Camaron
- Tacos de Atun
- Pork Taquitos
- Lazy Sari Avocado taquitos
All of that for just about 500 calories! No fooling. ¡Buen provecho, Guapas!
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Check out the De Las Mias app. It’s free and ready for download in the Google Play Store. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @delasmiaslife.
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