Taco Bake

It has been almost a month of eating healthy and I am down 15 pounds over all. The struggle is real!!! I had a friend that posted a quote the other day and it seems so true for the struggles of weight loss.

 "Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end." - Robin Sharma

Thanks Nathan for posting that because I was having a moment of weakness and wanting to give up on this journey. Seeing that though made me realize it has only just begun and that with a little extra effort I can truly do this, and when I do the end will be beautiful!!!

So yea I am struggling to stay on track every day, and some days I fail, but  for the majority of the time I am tracking calories and staying within my goal and making progress on becoming healthier and happier.

So on Saturday morning I set out to make a new recipe. I have been experimenting a lot and this new one was a creation that won over the stomachs of 2 picky 9 year old girls, my husband, who really will eat almost anything I make, and me... I loved it and it was less than 400 calories a serving, and I was FULL after my serving!

Here is the recipe for what we call Taco Bake!

Ingredients:
~ 6 whole wheat soft tortilla's (8.5 inch round)
~ 1 can (15oz) of tomato sauce
~ 1/2 pack of taco seaoning
~ 2 lbs of ground turkey
~ 3/4 medium onion (dice)
~ 9 oz can of red enchilada sauce 
~ 4.4 oz of reduced fat fiesta blend cheese (reserve 1/2 for the top)

Directions:
First I browned my ground turkey over med/high heat and drained any grease off. Then I added the taco seasoning and continued to brown a little longer. Setting the meat mixture aside, I sauteed my onions in the same pan as the meat, but I use spray PAM, no oil or butter. The added the meat back to the pan, and the can of tomato sauce and let that simmer for about 15 -20 min.

Preheat oven to 350.

Meanwhile in a  casserole dish I sprayed with PAM. Shout out to my momma, she taught me to do this when cooking in the oven, it makes for a super simple clean up. I took my sprayed casserole dish and started to construct my layers. First I put a small amount of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the dish and then placed two tortillas side by side. Then I put a 1/3 of the meat mixture spread out on the tortilla, poured some enchilada sauce over and then aprox 1 oz of the cheese, then I started the process over, tortilla, meat, sauce, cheese. 1 more round and this time the cheese was the remainder which would be about 2 oz or so for the top.

I covered with tin foil and baked for 30 min, uncovered, removed the foil and baked for another 10. Then I let it cool for 5 min. Cut each round into 4, so you get 8 servings from this 1dish and everyone loved it. Eliza (my stepdaughter) wants it on the menu every week.. we shall see, but mmmmm it was good!!!


Nutrition per serving: Yield 8 servings

Calories: 387
Carbs: 23
Fat: 21