Diabetic Taco Saturday!🌮😋

As I’ve been doing so well with my weight loss I decided to treat myself with tacos this evening, but I found a way to keep them completely diabetic friendly, and I have to say I was very impressed with myself! They were utterly delicious.

The taco shells were always going to be the “worst” part from a carb perspective. Or so I thought (more on that in a minute). While I generally prefer hard shell tacos, I know this is not traditionally Mexican (one of my best friends originates there and is constantly telling me so!), and the regular El Paso or generic hard shell wraps are quite high in carbs so I went for a soft wrap – BFree High Protein gluten free wraps from Tesco – which have just 3.5g carbs per wrap compared to 9-10g for hardshell tacos. But also add 11g protein which is a nice bonus.

I have always hand made my own guacamole and salsa, which is even easier now I have a Ninja blender – just avocado, tomatoes, red onion, garlic, chilli, lime juice and salt.

Then I made my own nacho cheese sauce. I made something very similar recently with a generic cheese sauce for a bunless burger, but immediately saw the application for nacho cheese! I’ll include my recipe later if you’re interested in trying it. As I say, I’ve used it both as a “burger sauce” and with tacos.

I cooked the turkey mince as I would normally – brown in a pan with a little oil, but I had found these Mexican style veggies in the freezer section at Tesco so I mixed these in once the meat was cooked.

I didn’t realise until right now that the veggies do have 11g carbs per 100g, so will have to think about it before buying them again! But they were quite yummy, and if that’s the worst part of this dish then it’s really not so bad as an occasional treat. They have a mix of red onion, red kidney beans, tomato, sweetcorn and peppers, with seasoning and lemon zest.

Anyway, the end result was fab.

I haven’t had Tacos in a few months and miss them – it’s one of my favourites. It’s not particularly difficult to make, just a little time-consuming, as you’re preparing four or five separate things and need to get the order right.

Preparation of low carb tacos

1. Prepare salsa – just throw red onions, tomatoes, tomato puree, lime juice, garlic and a pinch of salt into a food processor – you can keep it chunky or go as smooth as you like. You can also add some jalapenos if you prefer it with some kick. Taste and add more lime/salt as needed. When you empty the salsa, leave about 1/5 behind in the food processor – this is the base for your guac.
2. Guac – Add avocadoes – up to you how many avos, depends how many you’re serving! Blend, then to your preferred consistency and taste again. If you feel your guac needs more of anything lime, salt, garlic or jalapenos then add some more til it tastes right.
3. Mince – brown with a little oil (needs very little for beef mince, more if you use 2% fat turkey mince like I do. Then add taco seasoning and about 100ml water per 250g of meat. Cook over a medium heat til the water reduces down – you don’t want wet tacos.
4. As soon as you add the water and have your meat simmering, start on the nacho cheese sauce. Put a knob of butter in a small frying pan, once melted add about 30-40ml milk and lower heat to medium til very lightly simmering. Mix another 30-40ml milk with 2tsp cornflour to make a smooth paste.
   Add the paste.
   This next step is critical – remove the cooked butter / milk from the heat and then andd 60ml Greek yogurt and your grated cheese – whatever cheese you prefer. As much as you prefer. I don’t really measure, just grab a chunk and grate! Obviously for a nacho cheese I used a mexican themed cheese with chilli. Combine fully off the heat, and only then put it back on the hob but over a very low heat until the cheese is melted and you have a smooth consistency. If you over-heat then the yogurt will split.
5. Final step – heat the wraps in the microwave for 30 seconds and then serve. There’s no right way or wrong way but I find that coating the wrap in salsa, guac and nacho cheese first and then adding the meat on top is the best approach.
   Remember to fold the rear of the wrap, don’t just roll it and leave it open like a tube! If the rear isn’t folded properly, then the juices will just pour out the back of the tube as you bite the front of the taco!

Note that these wraps are a little thin, and prone to splitting, so make sure you have kitchen roll/paper towels to hand for cleanup! But a little bit of mess is all part of the taco experience! Enjoy!

This demonstrates that there is a completely delicious and diabetic-friendly way to enjoy tacos! I still have plenty of guac, salsa, and nacho cheese left, so I will make up some more tomorrow night as I’d still have lots of the turkey mince left over. Obviously, the prep time will be much lower – just steps 4 and 5!

Here’s the end result mid-loading my first taco!