15 Minute Vegetables Tacos (from a Meat Guy)

I'm a meat eating guy. I hunt. My idea of a great meal was traditionally a big steak.

But I also was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. And since my grandfather had a bad stroke, and was never the same until his death, and then my dad had a stroke (small one but still), I figured maybe I don't like steak and bacon as much as I want to see my kids grow up.

Honestly, sometimes I add in a few ounces of chorizo (it doesn't take much to add flavor) or a little bit of chicken breast. I like it but I don't have to have it.

You can also see there is no salt. Add it to your liking. Blood pressure and salt don't like each other. So I don't.

Nutritional information:
33 calories in a zucchini
30 calories in a yellow squash
44 calories in onion
24 calories in bell pepper
Olive oil 119 calories per tablespoon (2)
87.5 calories in tomatoes
385 calories in black beans

That makes this mixture 907.5 calories total. And it fed a family of 5. With leftovers. So we ate about 60-75% of it.

Of course there are calories in the tortillas and avocado, as well as cheese and other things you may add.

Entire cooking time is 15 minutes. Assuming you prepare beforehand this is a great last minute meal. Honestly even the prep, for me, is way less than 10 minutes.

Step 1: Ingredients

3 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 onion
1 bell pepper (which I forgot to buy so I used frozen)
Cilantro
1 can black beans
1 can of Rotel (I'm cheap... I used Kroger brand)
1 TBSP cumin
1 TBSP chili powder

Step 2: Cilantro

Wash it. Unless you enjoy sand. This was the cleanest cilantro I have bought, and you can see the dirt.

Untie it and put it in a bowl of water. Shake it around. The dirt and sand stay.

The stalks of cilantro have a lot of flavor, but they super stringy. I chop the very ends off... And then chop the rest of the stalk very fine.

Put it in the pan with the olive oil. On medium heat.

Step 3: Onion

Cutting an onion isn't rocket surgery, but it can be a pain in the eye.

Anyways.
1. Cut the ends off
2. Sit it on one flat end. Cut it in half.
3. It's now really easy to pull the skin off.
4. Turn it so a flat end is towards you. I cut from the outside to the center. This keeps the slices consistent.
5. When you are halfway through, just turn it around in one unit. Otherwise it's super hard to cut the other direction. For me anyway.
6. Once it's sliced, turn it 90 degrees. At this point you can cut it small to dice it. For this recipe I only wanted to cut it in half.

In the pan it breaks up perfectly.

Step 4: Cilantro, Onion, and Garlic

Put all of this into the pan at medium heat and let it all get happy while you cut up the zucchini and squash.

Step 5: Add the Gourd

Cut them up pretty small (think small bites) but consistent.

It's going to feel like you need more oil or something... But you don't I promise.

Just put a lid on it, get your spices ready and start opening your cans.

Step 6: Spices

I don't actually measure anything. And I use a little bit of cayenne as well. But it's good without it. I mix it all up before I add the other ingredients.

Step 7: Beans and Rotel

I rinse both several times by adding water in the can and pouring it out.

This is because of the sodium. You don't have to do this if you don't care about being healthy. In which case you probably aren't reading this.

Dump them in... Mix them up and crank the heat so the liquid will cook off.

Step 8: Corn Tortillas

I had tacos in Arizona where my wife is from and they were great. They used 2. But I could never recreate the flavor.

And so I always used flour. But flour tortillas are made with white flour and lard. Delicious... But not exactly healthy.

I will sheepishly tell you that I picked up the secret to good corn tortillas from the movie "Turbo".

Anyway... Take 2 tortillas together. Spray the pan with cooking spray. Put the tortillas in the pan together. Spray the top of the second one immediately. This traps the moisture and the 2 tortillas will join together.

You will see it starts to bubble up. When you see that... Flip it as a unit.

You'll notice the cooked one is a little bit smaller because the water is evaporated (I guess). When the bottom one shrinks up, pull it.

They should kinda stick together. Don't separate them. You'll use 2 per taco.

Done this way, the tortillas are both crispy and still soft inside.

If you don't care about sodium, it's amazing to salt them before you flip them. Like eating off a chip... Dang I miss salt.

Step 9: Back to the Mixture.

Don't forget about it... But don't worry about it either. Just stir it now and then while you prep the tortillas.

I chop a little extra cilantro and add it at the end.

The mixture cooks a total of about 15 minutes.