It All Starts with a Taco

I have a confession:  I hate dinnertime.  Not necessarily the eating of a delicious meal, but the process of scrambling through a busy day, figuring out what to make, then cooking and cleaning up afterwards.  Oh, and not to mention all while kids are complaining about how hungry they are while I’m cooking, or the epic boy-mom battles I have to break up when the fun wrestling goes a little too far (if you’re a boy mom, you get it.  There’s only some battles worth intervening).  Then to have everyone complain about not liking the meal after it has been made.  Fantastic, right?  

The expectation for dinner to be perfect had to go.  The idea that feeding my family a healthy meal meant tons of meal prep, veggie chopping and time had to disappear.  I avoided my kitchen for years because my chopping skills were less than expert.  I didn’t get to participate in making Thanksgiving dinner because I was concerned more about the people and less about the food (to this day, I have never made Thanksgiving dinner).  The belief that tacos had to be given up to be healthy 100% needed to be erased (yep, if your health program tells me tacos are out, sorry but I don’t want to participate).  The main theme?  For me to enjoy food, enjoy cooking and enjoy my family, it was time to drop the notion of perfection and expectations of what it’s “supposed” to look like.

I realized that I had to come up with a way to cook less and enjoy more.  And what I learned from my two boys was that my time with them was far more important than how fancy the meal was.  I also realized for myself that my sanity and lowered stress levels were a huge part of my health, more important than making the “perfectly” healthy or fancy dinner.  Did you know that eating in a stressed, irritated or rushed state actually slows your digestion?  It’s no wonder so many moms walk around feeling bloated, ponchy and yuck in their belly!

So, here’s to your sanity, your health, and the investment in your family!  

This is my (and my boy's favorite taco & leftover transformation) transformation.  It starts with a Green Chili Pork (you could swap out for chicken or whatever protein of choice) on Taco Tuesday and ends in a delightful Green Chili Pork Stew.

Meal 1:  Green Chili Pork Tacos

Ingredients:

Pork Roast (boneless or bone in)

Diced Yellow Onion

25-30 ounces Diced Hatch Green Chilies (I use a brand called Young Guns, but you might not find it in your local store.  Any diced roasted green chilies will do and if you can’t find it, just go for a green chili sauce)

Tortillas 

Juice of 2 limes

Shredded cabbage

Chopped Cilantro

1 tsp Cumin

• Generously season the pork with salt, pepper and granulated garlic

• Sear each side of roast in a hot skillet with about 2 Tbsp olive oil (if your roast is really big, chop it into 2-3 big chunks).

• Place roast in crock pot and pour diced onions, about 15 ounces of the green chilies (enough to cover it), 2 Tbs chopped cilantro,  juice of 1 squeezed lime.

• Cook on low for 10 hours

• Shred the meat when it’s done with a fork

Cabbage slaw:

Toss cabbage with olive oil and juice of ½ to full lime (depending how much you’re making).  Season with salt, pepper, granulated garlic.

Place shredded meat in tortilla, top with slaw.  I also like to top it with the cilantro-jalepeño crema & diced avocado.

Save the rest of the meat for meal #2.  (Note:  if you have a really big roast, the meat freezes well.  I often put the meat in a quart size ziploc bag with some of the juices from the meat for a quick meal later.) 

Meal 2:  Green Chili Pork Stew

Ingredients:

Shredded pork (about 3-4 cups depending on your leftovers)

Diced yellow onion

2-3 Tbsp Chopped cilantro

2 cans Great Northern Beans drained

1 tsp Cumin

Salt, pepper, granulated garlic

4-5 cups chicken broth

Juice of 1-2 limes

1 package frozen corn

• Heat 1 Tsp Olive Oil in a deep pot (I use my Dutch Oven because it’s wide and deep)

• Saute onions with about ¼ tsp salt, pepper, cumin & granulated garlic for about 4 minutes until translucent

• Add the rest of the green chilies from taco night (start small with what you add, you can always add more spice, but it’s harder to take it away)

• Squeeze the juice of 1 lime

• Add 4 cups chicken broth, chopped cilantro & beans

• Add pork 

• Bring to a boil, lower temp & simmer for 5 minutes

• Taste the sauce (if you want more spice, add more green chili.  Want to tone down the spice or have more liquid, add another cup of chicken broth, or more lime juice)  Adjust season with salt, pepper and granulated garlic as needed.

• Right before serving, bring back to simmer & add frozen corn (I often make this ahead of time & leave on the stove for a couple hours & throw in the corn right before serving)

Serve your stew in a bowl.  I like to top with chopped green onion, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, avocado chunks, sour cream and crumbled tortilla chips (ok, I’ll be honest, I really like it with some crunchy tortilla chips crumbled on top).