I am a single mom to 2 hungry boys, and an entrepreneur Doctor of Physical Therapy and wanted to use my skills in a capacity to help others create simple & sustainable success in their body & life. Being confined to the clinic walls in our healthcare system for 13 years was amazing, but I knew there was something else out there.  I saw how much people struggled to feel good in their body, manage pain, stay consistent through life’s challenges and I knew it was my calling to expand my skills to create simple, realistic and sustainable health in the lives of millions.  While I helped eliminate pain and allow patients to get back to life, I saw a missing component in their health.  I wasn’t able to empower them with the skills of full health.  And I certainly didn’t give them the path to keep it up when life got overwhelming and bombarded with all the chaos that can sabotage any health plan they might have been on.  If this is you, always battling the motivation-start-stop cycle in your health, listen up.  I want to give you freedom to find one small step in your health today.  Give yourself evidence that you can, and willpower is no longer a necessary evil required in your health program.  Join me in a path to sustainability & simplicity in your health!

 I grew up in the small border town, Nogales, AZ (ok, actually Rio Rico if it ever gets on the map!).  I grew up as a white minority in a primarily Hispanic community (I know, it sounds crazy, but I truly thought I was a minority until I went to college) where tacos were just part of life.  While we have zero hispanic in our blood, my mom quickly adapted the Sonoran Mexican vibes & often turned leftovers into some sort of taco-form.  Tacos just became part of life and I never thought of them being healthy or unhealthy.  

As someone in the health industry, I’ve often heard phrases like, “I’d be skinny, but I love tacos too much.”  I nearly fell over the first time I heard this!  Tacos not being part of my health?!  I mean, I feel like I grew up eating fairly healthy and tacos were certainly part of that.  The belief that certain foods equate to fat or unhealthy.  What if you can have your tacos & feel healthy too?  Sure, there are different ways to do certain foods to bring more or less benefits to your body, but the thought that you have to CHOOSE between healthy and a certain food needs to stop.  Healthy doesn’t mean perfection.  It’s about figuring out what aligns with you, what you enjoy and what kind of time you can spend doing it.  But if you come at health with a legalistic approach of, Don’t ever eat that approach, you will find yourself overwhelmed, frustrated and like a failure.  Which means you’ll stay stuck in the hustle-motivation-willpower-failure cycle.

I want to bring you freedom to choose.  Freedom to understand what health means to you, simplify it so you don’t grab your phone to order out when you’ve had an exhausting day.  I want you to find success in your health.  Not just in the way you eat, but in the way you move your body & think about what healthy means for you.  And why it matters far beyond what you’re doing for your body.  The legacy that your health creates in your improved ability to serve the ones you love and serve every day.  All because you were able to find success, sustainability & simplicity in the way you did it each and every day.

One big hang up for people I’ve seen is not enough time.  I hear ya.  I’m pressed for time, just like you.  But I really enjoy bringing good food to the table that is healthy & delicious.  I also am realistic and understand not every meal has to be knock it out the park crazy healthy & perfect.  So if you’re thinking, how are you going to make tacos healthy?, I want to take away the perfection piece from you.  Not every recipe in here is going to be tofu, veggie packed and super lean.  But they will be homemade, fresh, tasty and bring happiness (which is part of your health!).  Just release yourself from the perfection piece of what healthy is “supposed” to be and set yourself free.  Because the truth to health is that it doesn’t have to take perfection to be healthy.  And if healthy means hours in the kitchen, boring food and took many wild ingredients, you’re going to get overwhelmed & not do it.  And quite frankly, your sanity & reduced stress level around cooking dinner is a huge part of your health.

That being said, the best way that I have found to bring simplicity, time management and cost efficient meal planning is to make one meal and turn it into a second meal on day 2.  And I'm NOT talking "leftover night" that I grew up with where you microwaved all the food from the week and ate a hodgepodge of YUCK that everyone hated.  I'm talking a "leftover transformation" where you get a new meal (that your family will enjoy) without a lot of extra fuss.

Meal #1:  Birria Tacos

Ingredients:

Beef Chuck Roast

2 Dried Ancho Chilies

2 Dried Guajillo Chilles

1 Dried Chipotle Chilies

(Note:  the chilies can be forgiving so if you can’t find one, a different red chili will work.  Also, if you can’t find dried chipotle, use canned chipotle and add to blender when you make the sauce)

1 Tbsp Ground Cloves

1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Thyme

1 tsp Majoram

1 tsp Oregano

½ tsp Cumin

½ tsp ground ginger

Salt to taste

3 Garlic Cloves

½ Onion

2 Bay leaves

1 Cinnamon Stick

¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes

2 Cups Beef Stock

2 Cups Water

• De-Seed the dried chilies and put them in the 2 cups on water.  Bring the water to a boil and simmer 10-15 minutes until chilies are soft.
• Preheat Oven to 200 degrees (or you can use your crock pot on low)
• Chop the chuck roast into medium chunks, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Add about a Tbsp of Olive Oil to a Dutch Oven or skillet and sear each side until brown.
• If using a Dutch Oven, add 2 cups to seared beef.  If using crock pot, transfer meat to crock pot and add broth.
• Take chiles to blender with 2 cups of the chili water.  Add the apple cider vinegar, tomatoes, onion, garlic cloves, cloves, marjoram, thyme, oregano, cumin, ginger, black pepper, salt to taste and blend until smooth.
• Pour the sauce over the meat.  
• Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick
• Cook for 8-10 hours (depending on the size of your roast)
• Meat will fall apart and shred.
• Save the rest of the meat & juice for the next meal

Assemble your tacos:

• Place shredded meat on your tortilla of choice (you can add a little of the sauce for some juicy goodness!)
• Top with cilantro, diced white onion, cotija cheese and avocado

Meal #2:  Birria Stew

Ingredients

Leftover meat and about 1-2 cups of juice (depends on how much you have left)

25 oz  can of Mexican-Style Hominy

1 Can Black Beans

Juice of 2 Limes

About 4 cups Beef Broth

1 diced yellow onion

¼ cup chopped cilantro

Additional salt, black pepper & garlic powder to taste

• Heat 1 Tbsp Olive Oil in large pot or Dutch Oven and saute diced onion about 5 minutes until soft and translucent
• Add meat & beef broth
• Squeeze in juice of 1 lime
• Add Hominy and Black Beans
• Stir in Cilantro
• Add additional lime juice if necessary, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
• Bring to boil and simmer low for 20-30 minutes.  (This is a great one you can make ahead of time and just keep on warm or sitting out on stove for a few hours)
• Dish up in a soup bowl and add options such as:  chopped cilantro, avocado, cotija cheese, sour cream, squeezed lime.  Topping with some crushed tortilla chips adds a good crunch I highly recommend.