Saturday, September 1, 2012

Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Street Tacos – More Low Carb Leftover Love

Leftover Love, Lucky Leftovers, Lazy Leftovers – Embrace the Quick and Easy Meal

Low Carb Street Taco.
Tex-Mex Pulled Pork on a homemade low carb Tortilla
with cabbage, onion and jalapeno relish and cotijia cheese.
Lazy Leftovers and Tex-Mex continue to reign supreme in Fluffy Chix kitchen stadium. Hell, people, you just cooked a 420lb hog with me a few days ago, we gotta use it somehow! (Ok, it was an 8.5lb pork shoulder, but do we have to be technical?) And with everything going on this week, I’ve relied heavily on leftovers. Lazy Leftovers. Or maybe it should be Lucky Leftovers? Yep, freezer diving was the Olympic Event of the week.

On Sundays, I like to cook some kind of roast beast. It could be a pork shoulder, or pork loin, or beef chuck, rump roast, tri-tip, eye of round, or whole chickens – even if they don’t provide the protein in the Sunday evening meal. I love making a Roasted Sunday because I generally buy meat when it’s under $2.00/lb, but I take personal pride when I get it for under $1.00/lb! Score!

Pulled Pork is a great meat base and makes for cheap
lunches. Raise your glass to Roasted Sundays!
That means we have weekday “lunch meat” that costs less than $1.00/lb and contains ZERO preservative, ZERO soy, and ZERO chemicals I can’t pronounce. It also gives me enough meat to feed Deep Space 9 (chest freezer) to fuel future feats of strength with leftovers (the chest freezer).

Hey, it’s a winning system! You can't argue with success, right? It tastes great. It's cheap. It's chemical and preservative free! No sodium erythrobate, no nitrites, no nitrates, no, no, no! Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!




Mama, Khakki, Bubba G, and Bubba D. I think Nan was
the "baby on board" in this impromptu fam photo.
Mama ate Tex-Mex and Chinese food when she was preggers with me. Every week, she would eat both of those cuisines at least 2-3 times each. Of course, she had pre-eclampsia during the pregnancy and I don’t know enough about it to be able to say whether she hurt herself with all the sodium from those types of meals.

She was not making them at home, so my guess is they were chock full of sodium. But I would think the carbohydrate was more of a villain than the sodium in the pre-eclampsia.

But what I do find rather interesting is that throughout my entire life – from earliest memories as a baby to now – I’ve CRAVED, and I do mean CRAVED, Tex-Mex and Chinese. If you asked or demanded I give them up, I would look at you squarely; raise an eyebrow and say, “Whachootawkinbout Willis?”

Slow Roasted Pulled Pork is moist and tender.
Lucky for me, I’m low carb savvy now. Lucky for me I no longer make a run for the border or visit Taco Hell or the cabana boys at Taco Cabana. I no longer visit Lucky Liu’s Chinese Café. And that means, I no longer suck down endless buckets of tortilla chips fried in stale, injured corn oil and I no longer eat secret sugars wrapped up in soy sauce laden brown sauces! I make our own!

And you know what? Not only are the Fluffy Chix Cook versions cleaner and healthier, but they taste better too and NEVER give me heart palpitations like the MSG bombs from those restaurants.

Yep, you know it's true. I make them at home. And preparation is made very simple by the use of my Lucky Leftover bases. One of Fluffy Chix more brilliant readers coined a cute phrase today calling it the “Lazy Susan Method” of cooking. *snort* Thanks Wenchy! Although my name isn’t Susan, it works! LSM (Lazy Susan Method), it’s a roundtable cornucopia of prepared bases that make weeknight meals a snap.

Feed the fam. Feed the freezer. It's a win-win.
Goodbye takeout taxis. Goodbye delivery pizza. There’s a new sheriff in town! We’re breaking up for good! (Or at least that’s what happened in our house when I embraced the Susie-HomeEc -Teacher side of me and started cooking for a small family instead of just for the two of us adults. Remember sock monkeys and their toys do not eat much.) Every time I cook I not only feed Denny and me, but I feed Deep Space 9 (chest freezer).

Oh and lest you think we’re locked in some Twilight Zone, Groundhog Day Food Consumption loop, these leftovers bear little resemblance to Mama’s!

These leftovers get face lifts and become new dishes through the science of Imagineering. Fluffy Chix can disguise anything and morph it into a new dish!




Low carb Soy Free Tortillas are gluten free (but they do
have dairy in them) and are sturdy enough to be a taco
delivery system - even when you pick 'em up like a
"normal" person!
So let’s say Olé to our little friends, the street taco. They're filling. And satisfying in a Tex-Mex kinda joy-filled way. And I didn't have to put on make-up and change outta my jammies to run out and pick 'em up at the drive thru.

(Of course I'm just kidding you! What self-respecting DSFW would be caught dead wearin' jammies after 10am? Right Vicki? Folks, you may think I'm terribly clever, but DFSWs were related to me by my dear friend, Vicki who happens to be incredible and not only a card-carryin' member, but also the acting Chapter President of Local DSFW Lodge 409 here in H-town!)



My Soy Free Low Carb Tortillas also get made on Sunday, as do Revolutionary Rolls. That way they are always ready for the big show. I seriously NEVER miss bread on this way of life because of them. Now, I do still miss a great Neapolitan style pizza crust but hey, the world is an imperfect place! I’ll live! And thrive!

Did I forget to mention PeeWee's secret word of the week?

THRIVE!
*hahahahahahahahahahaaha* (evo-maniacle PeeWee laughter continues offscreen...)



Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Street Tacos
Recipe By:  Susie T. Gibbs
Serving Size:   2 servings       Yield: 4 Street Tacos
Preparation Time:  20 Minutes
Cooking Time:  1-1/2 Minutes
Difficulty:  Depends on how well you know your freezer.

This dish comes together in a breeze as long as you have pulled pork in the deep freeze and the tortillas ready to fly!

Full to bustin'! This Street Taco is low carb street legal!
Ingredients
4  low carb flour tortillas
6 ounces  Tex-Mex pulled pork shoulder
½ medium  avocado
¼ cup  sour cream
½ cup  cabbage -- slivered
3 medium  radishes -- julienned
¼ cup  cilantro leaves, whole
¼ cup  red onion -- chopped fine
1 large  jalapeno chile peppers -- fresh
¼ cup  feta cheese -- or cotija cheese, crumbled
1/8   lime -- cut into 2 wedges




Take package of pulled pork from the deep freeze and allow to thaw overnight in the fridge. Microwave for 30 seconds to one minute until pork is warm.


This is the liquid gold that helps keep your pork moist and delicious, leftover after leftover.


Ready to serve! Low carb Street Taco 101!
Chop onion and jalapeno and toss together.

Wash and stem cilantro leaves.

Thinly sliver cabbage.

Cut avocado into thin slices.

Cut lime into 8 wedges.

Warm tortillas in the microwave or on an ungreased griddle or pan. I warm these per serving so everyone enjoys their street tacos hot off the griddle.

I even have a little desk bell I ring and say, "Order up! Pick-up at the pass!"

Cuz, see, I'm tricky that way...



Each Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Street Taco gets ¼ of each of the condiments and filling: pulled pork, onion & jalapeno relish, radishes, feta or cotija cheese crumbles, avocado, cilantro leaves, and sour cream.

Serve 2 street tacos per person with a wedge of lime on the side. Olé!

Per Serving: 654 Calories; 52g Fat; 35g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 146mg Cholesterol; 737mg Sodium. 

Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 4 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 8 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Serving Ideas:
Fold and hold! Yep, just like "normal" street tacos!
No sides necessary! These are a stand-alone, filling delicacy! You can substitute your favorite pork shoulder recipe. We love using the basic Tex-Mex Pulled Pork in the tacos and also the Criolla Marinated Pulled Pork (recipe coming soon).

Oh and if you don't have forethought or opportunity to make the pulled pork, grilled pork chops are also a quick and easy hit in these tacos.





SUSIET’s NOTES:

This is a quick Tuesday Taco Night favorite in the Fluffy Chix Roost. It comes together in minutes since we always have homemade low carb tortillas handy and also have the pulled pork in the freezer just lurking and waiting to be liberated from Deep Space 9 (the chest freezer).

Welcome to Deep Space 9 - Section 3. DS9 is a little
care-worn and neglected. Ice particles often form in DS9.


If you want or need to lighten these tacos up in the calorie department, feel free to reduce the amount of avocado per serving and also substitute Greek yogurt for the sour cream.

You can substitute lean, center cut pork loin chops for the pulled pork shoulder with excellent results making them totally South Beach Phase I legal.






You'll never miss Tex-Mex street tacos again! And you won't believe they’re low carb. You pick 'em up, fold 'em, take a bite...yep, just like a regular soft taco, only better! No MSG. No crap. No high glycemic grains jackin' with your insulin and blood sugar, no wheat belleh or asthma.

Perfection in a soy free, gluten free low carb tortilla, my friends (all 2 of y'all reading here). I don't care who you are, low carb afficionado or carb-monkey alike - y'all will flip for these street tacos.

Stop it. My posts are NEVER filled with useless hyperbole! *delicate DSFW frown*


Pick it up. And set it down. No problemo! The tortilla stays as flexible and sturdy as if you'd just made it!

And the price? Holy guacamole, folks! These street tacos will fit on anyone's value menu - under $0.95 per taco!

Full Recipe: $3.64
Per 2 Taco Serving: $1.82
Per Taco: $0.91

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