Taco Madness!!!!!
Tacos, and Mexican/American food are in general very macro friendly- the main things to navigate is know your cut of meat, beware the lard and avoid fried stuff! Luckily, a basic, honest taco is not only delicious, it will fit almost anyone's macros. Plus, here in Shebnation, we do not believe in poverty macros except in certain cases, and often times they are truly unnecessary!
My little cohort Rachel cooked you all up a savory and delicious carnitas recipe (yeah carnitas!!!), and we have a recipe for a nearly macro-free pineapple salsa that is a flavor bomb, as well as baked tortilla chips that are almost fat free!!!! So make a taco night at home, set out a buffet and go to town!
Olé!-Sheb
Nomnomnomnom....
As a gift for joining Shebnation as a coach, Sheb bought me a contraption called an “instant pot”. #BossLady #BestBossAwardGoesTo…
If you haven’t heard of this incredible invention, or are too intimidated to take it out of the box and read the manual/encyclopedia that accompanies it, let me shed some light on this 8-in-1 device.
In short, it is a programmable pressure-cooker that can make yogurt, rice, and eggs as well as steam, sauté, warm, and slow cook almost any type of food. To be honest, you really only need to understand around 3 buttons on this bad boy to do any of the above functions.
For our weekly meal preppers out there, we have arrived at the promise land. Gone are the days of pulling out [and washing] two crockpots, five oven sheets, and three skillets on food prep day. Not to mention, bulk recipes can be created and completed in less than one hour, like this one that follows.
I am in the throes of a passionate love affair with tacos: succulent, tender, warm, satisfying pillows of meat. They’re like baby burritos….even if you have eight of them in one sitting. Being in Chicago, the next best taco place is always around the corner.
In trialing some recipes these past few weeks, I wanted to share this savory miracle that had my main critic raving for more (IE. my husband). Due to this, I have made around 10 pounds of carnitas in two weeks. Some may call it excessive, I call it being proactive. - Rachel
Pork Shoulder Carnitas- Instant Pot (adapted from the Instant Pot Website). Makes 8 Servings.
(Please note- every pork shoulder will throw off a different amount of fat and water. The best way to accurately get your macros for this dish is to weigh the final product, after it has crisped, and divide by 8 to get the weight for a single portion. You can also substitute boneless, skinless chicken thighs for a lower fat, higher protein version. If you do not have an Instant pot, make the dish in a soup pot, following the instructions regarding the sauté. You will then simmer the meat on low heat, covered, for 1.5-2 hours until soft, and then pick up where the recipe begins for the crisping part.)
MACROS:
4C | 14 F | 20 P / SERVING FOR PORK SHOULDER
4C | 12 F | 29 P / SERVING FOR BONELESS, SKINLESS CHICKEN THIGHS
INGREDIENTS:
• 2 pounds pork shoulder, cubed
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• juice of 2 limes
• juice of 2 large navel oranges (makes around 1.5 c juice)
• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño, diced
• 1 cup broth
DIRECTIONS:
• Press Sauté function on instant pot.
• Once hot, add cubed pork and brown all sides for 10 minutes.
• Add all of the rest of the ingredients and mix well to combine.
• Press cancel, secure lid, close off pressure valve
• Press Manual (defaults to high pressure) and set for 30 minutes.
• Once time is up, let the pressure release on its own for 20 minutes
• As the instant pot slow releases its pressure, turn on the oven broiler.
• Use a slotted spoon to remove the fall-apart meat and onions, and place on a baking sheet.
• Use two forks to pull apart the meat and place under broiler until the pork crisps
Flavor Bomb, Hardly any Macros!
4 Ingredient "Grilled" Pineapple Salsa-Makes 20 Servings Approx 1-2 Tbsp Each
Macros: 2 C/serving- That's IT!
Again, you must weight your final product and divide by 20 this time to get then weight for one serving. Just take a piece of tape and write in on there and affix to your storage container.
INGREDIENTS:
- 200 Grams fresh or canned pineapple. You can usually buy fresh pineapple already cut up in the produce section if you do not want to deal with breaking down a whole one. If using canned, drain all the juice and blot with paper towel.
- 1/2 a jalapeño, finely chopped
- 50 grams red onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 a medium red onion)
- Juice of one medium lime
- Salt and pepper (not the push it people, the seasonings)
DIRECTIONS:
- Sauté the pineapple in a pan until it starts to get golden and caramelize. If you have a grill, even better! I do not. I also want to say the smell of the roasting pineapple is better than any scented candle ever!
- After taring your storage bowl, mix in the onion, jalapeño, lime juice and pineapple. Season with salt and pepper. Weight the total amount, divide by 20 and you have your serving size.
What do you mean I can have chips, Shebnation? What the hell kind of diet is this?????
Süper Düper Macro Friendly Baked Chips.
12 Chips= 19 C | 1.5 F | 2P
Makes 2 servings total (24 chips)
The trick here is finding these adorable little corn tortillas from Mission called "street tacos". For 3 corn tortillas, you will be charged 19 C | 1.5 F | 2 P. Since we are adding no fat to the cooking here, this will yield 12 chips per serving and those are great macros. You can use these to dip into the pineapple salsa above, or make the base for some very macro friendly nachos!
INGREDIENTS:
- 6 Mission Brand Corn Street Tacos
- Spray Oil
DIRECTIONS:
- Pre-heat your oven to 400º.
- Stack up your tortillas and cut them into quarters.
- Line a large sheet pan with foil or parchment and spray lightly with oil.
- Lay your cut tortillas on the sheet--NO TOUCHIES- ERR'BODY IS SEPARATE.
- Spray the chips with another little squirt.
- Bake for 3 minutes, turn them over and bake for another 3 minutes or until golden and crunchy.
