I love taco salad, but it’s easy to see that if I want to keep the calorie count down I have to make a few simple swaps then I can have a large filling salad for less than 300 calories.
Obviously it’s all in what you are willing to sacrifice, but one thing I am starting to realize is I am a creature of habit. I have put my taco salad together the same way each time I have made it, simply put because that’s just the way I have always done it.
After leaving the items out that drive up the calorie count and making a few substitutes I realized I didn’t even miss the missing items! I enjoyed the taco salad without the high calorie content! I left out the tortilla chips I would normally line the bottom of my taco salad with, and substituted extra lettuce for a true salad. I don’t eat sour cream so I left that out but used fat free sour cream for my husband. I also used fat free cheese verses regular cheese! Talk about saving a ton of calories! I also doubled up on the vegetables to make the salad more filling!
My taco salad would have normally been many calories now it’s calories! That’s a huge redux!
Original Taco Salad:
- 1/2 cup of taco meat 150 calories
- 1 cups of Taylor organic greens 3.5 calories
- 1/2 medium Roma tomato 17.5 calories
- ¼ Kraft Cheddar Shredded cheese 110 Calories
- 2Tbs Sour Cream 60 Calories
- 3 Jumbo Black Olives Sliced 25 Calories
- 10 Mission Tortilla Chip Yellow Rounds 140 Calories
Total Calories: 506
Taco Salad Redux:
- 1/2 cup of taco meat 150 calories
- 2 cups of Taylor organic greens 7 calories
- 1 medium Roma tomato 35 calories
- 2Tbs Fat Free Sour Cream 25 Calories
- 3 Jumbo Black Olives Sliced 25 Calories
- ¼ Kraft Fat Free Shredded Cheddar cheese 45 Calories
Total Calories: 287
The moral of the recipe redux is a total calorie savings of 219 calories! That’s equivalent to an extra meal or a great snack in calories! Take a look at the recipes you normally cook and you just might be surprised how many calories you can shave off your meal by just making a few substitutes that you won’t even notice!
colieskitchen.com 
Mmmm yum yum! We love tacos around here. When I'm dieting (which seems like every Monday) I do the same thing and put the toppings on lettuce instead of tortillas. Even when I'm not dieting I like taco salad. I started using ground chicken instead of beef and it's just as delicious. My family also likes the texture of the meat better. Thanks for visiting my blog and following! JenJenny's Cookbook
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