Do these nachos make me look thinner?

You probably don't need a recipe for nachos. And I don't do anything super special when I make them myself. But I wanted to post this for all those people who think you have to take things out of your diet to eat healthier. Well I like nachos. And I eat nachos. All the time. When Mike and I did P90X, people would always ask if it was hard to cut so much out of our diet. And I told them we still ate everything we wanted. These nachos have 551 calories in this whole plate...

On top of that, on P90X, it only counts as just over a half serving of carbs, 2 servings of protein, 1 of dairy, 1 of veggies, and a half of fat, which rocks. Most of the fats in here are good ones - you have the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids from the grass-fed beef and the cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fats in avocado. The cheese is made with 2% milk, because I will never give up cheese, and I just can't do the fat free. It doesn't melt...and I'm not ok with that. The meal is hundreds of calories less than Nachos BellGrande, plus it tastes better and your heart will most likely last longer. And I'd like that. Because I probably like you.

Nachos: (serves 2)

• 1/2 pound 93/7 organic grass-fed ground beef
• 1/2 package reduced-sodium taco seasoning
• 2 ounces Baked Tostitos Scoops
• 2 ounces shredded mexican cheese made with 2% milk
• 6 black olives - sliced
• 3 mini bell peppers - julienned
• jalapeno slices - diced
• 1 medium tomato - diced
• 1 ounce avocado - diced
• 1 green onion - diced
• 4 tbsp. salsa
• 2 tbsp. fat-free sour cream

Assembling these is pretty self-explanatory. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the meat according to the directions on the taco seasoning. If you're cooking a half pound, use half the package of seasoning. About 3 years ago we purchased a kitchen scale for about $10, and it was the best decision we ever made. If you don't have one, get one.

This is the best way of learning portion sizes and being able to eyeball how much you should eat. I measure everything I cook, and that keeps my calorie counts super accurate so I know exactly what I'm eating. My 8 ounces of beef cooked up to be about 3.75 ounces (200 calories) each.


Cut up the peppers, olives, and jalapenos while the beef cooks.

I spray my baking pan with cooking spray so the clean-up is easy. I weight out 1 ounce of chips for each of us (120 calories). I keep our portions seperate on the pan so we both get the same amount of everything.

Put cooked seasoned meat onto chips. Like I said, I weighed ours out for calorie count, but you can just split it equally. Then add the peppers, olives, and jalapenos. Put 1 ounce of cheese on each serving. 

Bake 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and heated to your liking. While it's baking, cut up your tomatoes, avocados, and green onion.

Now just put plate the nachos, add the above veggies, and put on salsa and sour cream if you want it. The calculations include 2 tbsp. salsa and 1 tbsp. fat-free sour cream for each serving. I am not a huge salsa fan, but I always add hot sauce. I love spicy food. So that's it! Now go eat.