July 7, 2020

Make dinner easier with TACO TUESDAY! This is a great meal idea to allow everyone to serve up their favorite combination. You control the quality and variety of the ingredients, while they choose which they’ll include. It’s a great opportunity to clean out some of those leftovers also.

With Make-Your-Own meals like this, creating some ground rules for assembling a balanced meal will help even the pickiest eaters. If the taco fixins’ don’t cover all the food groups, just be sure to offer those that are missing so everyone can make sure the 5 food groups are covered – PROTEIN, DAIRY, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, and GRAINS.

Forget the usual ground meat with a packet of taco seasoning that’s high in sodium and takes some time to fry up. Reduce the hands-on time by slow cooking some meat (chicken offer lean options) for shredding. Beans are an inexpensive option for those who want a meatless or plant-based protein. If you’re trying to eat the recommended 2 servings of fish per week, fish tacos are a great way to accomplish it!

For toppings, include roasted or grilled veggies (a great use of leftovers), shredded lettuce, and fresh salsa. Include some fruits like mango chunks, diced tomato and avocado (YES, the last two are really fruits). Whole grain soft tortillas or hard shell tortillas cover the grain group. Shredded cheese and plain Greek yogurt (a great swap for sour cream) cover the dairy group.