Healthy Mexican? Crunchy fresh beef totastadas

Mexican food gets a bad rap.  Maybe it's all the cheese, the sour cream, the white flour tortillas, the deep frying ... I had tacos at a restaurant once that were deep fried and covered with gravy.  I don't know how authentic that is but they sure tasted good!  


I love mexican food.  I usually save it for those indulgent days.  But there are so many delicious spices and fresh aspects to the cuisine that there really isn't much unhealthy about it.  Here's my take: play up the spices and the fresh veg and you won't even notice that the cheese and sour cream are missing.  


I'm a carnivore, in every sense of the word.  I could live off of filet mignon.  So tonight I indulged in my steak-lover tendencies with beef tostadas topped with crunchy green cabbage, fresh tomato salsa, chiptole yogurt sauce [had to throw some probiotics in there somewhere!] and lime juice. 

I chose corn tostadas because they are lighter than the typical flour tortilla.  I bought them baked instead of fried and they were still delicious and crispy.  



Ingredients:
For the beef filling:


1) Beef (I bought a piece of striploin and sliced it into long pieces)
2) 1 tbsp cumin
3) 2 tsp chili powder 
4) 1 tsp ground coriander
5) 2 tsp smoked paprika
6) Pinch of salt
7) 2 cloves of garlic, minced
8) 1/2 small onion, diced
9) Olive oil (I used olive oil spray to coat the pan)


For the fresh tomato salsa:
1) 1 tomato, diced
2) 1 garlic clove, minced
3) 1/2 small onion, diced
4) Juice of 1/2 lime
5) 1 tsp chopped parsley
6) Salt and pepper to taste


For the chipotle yogurt:
1) 1 small container of non-fat plain yogurt
2) 1 tbsp chipotle seasoning 


You'll also need:
1) Corn tostadas
2) Chopped green cabbage
3) Lime


Directions:


1) Heat oil in a pan and add the diced onion.
2) Meanwhile, mix the steak and spices in a bowl.
3) Add steak and minced garlic and cook on med-high for approximately 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of your steak.
4) In a separate bowl, mix together the salsa ingredients.  
5) Mix together the yogurt and chipotle seasoning.
6) Assemble your tostada!  Tostada + green cabbage + steak + yogurt chipotle sauce + fresh tomato salsa + some fresh lime juice = delicious, fresh, healthy mexican food.  Voila!