ABUELA J's TAQUERIA



Hola! Come join me in my kitchen. I'm, cooking up a zero carb taco salad for dinner tonight, and I want to share it with you.

Remember the tasty cheese crisp snack we made the other day? Well, if you spread it out in a circle, then microwave it and immediately mold it over the bottom of a bowl, you will have a crispy cheese taco tortilla bowl-ish thing. I didn't take a picture of this step because the melted cheese is very hot, and you have to hold it in place, pressed against the bowl until it cools a bit (of course the parchment paper is between your hands and the cheese.....duh). It holds its shape once it cools and hardens. Have a set of oven mitts or pot holders ready because it's very hot. I already said that didn't I?

Brown some ground beef in a frying pan, and when it's almost done add some water and...


Some taco mix. I like Taco Bell brand, but Lawry's, Schilling and McCormick's all have the same nutritional values....


1 gram of carbs per serving. I use less, just enough for flavoring, so the % of cheating is pretty much zilch unless you want to get technical. Please don't get too technical. It's not like I'm having an Oreo Cookie Blizzard at DQ. Yeah, because that has 103 carbs.


I fill my cheese tortilla with shredded lettuce, sprinkled with this.....
Mrs. Dash! I swear this is flavored cardboard bits because there is absolutely no nutritional value....


None whats so ever! Why can't they do that with Oreo Cookie Blizzards?


Here is the finished taco salad. I don't like dressings and salsa on mine. The taco seasoning and Mrs. Dash is plenty for me, and the cheesy shell adds flavor too.

Comer robusto!

Another Grandma J Tutorial

Now that I'm on day three of my diet.....specifically the Atkins Diet, I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes. Those of you who have been on Atkins probably know all about this tasty, easy snack food.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Atkins Diet, it's basically a high protein, low carb diet. Finding snack foods with little or no carbs is not easy.

Let's pretend for a moment that you want to find something easy and simple on Rachael Ray's website.

Well, of course, you will have to schlep through tons of fluff like contests to bid on a Rachael look-a-like made out of Legos!

That's right, it's a life size replica made out of Legos! Well, you can thank your lucky stars that you won't be distracted by such rubbish prize winning games on Grandma J's site....no sirree.

I won't bore you with a feature called Weekly ROUND-UP, because if you're on Atkins, it would more than likely be called a Weekly BOUND-UP.

You won't find a Yum-O Menu section for kids on Grandma J's site. You can always get the recipe for "Orange You Hungry?" Tangerine Dream Chicken with Curry-Carrot Couscous straight from Rachael's Yum-O site. What's a couscous? And be honest...is this a dish your four year old will be asking you to fix for dinner?

Without wasting anymore time, let's get on with the tutorial...which is really a one ingredient recipe.

This is my favorite snack food on the Atkins Diet. It's a crispy cheese snack. Don't judge it by it's looks! It tastes cheesier and crispier than Cheez-It's. I used to bring this yummy snack to work to help me with the munchies....before long I was making it in large quantities to satisfy the moochers who loved it.

Let's make some, shall we?

Finely grate some cheese, any cheese. I buy it all ready grated, and prefer it finally finely grated. Just remember, American cheese, and cheese products aren't real cheese, and won't work.

Spread the grated cheese evenly on parchment paper. Microwave safe plates are OK but you have to spray them with Pam, or something similar, otherwise you will never get the cheese off. The parchment paper is so much easier, and the results are better.

I microwave the cheese on high for 3 minutes. Now, my old microwave took 5 minutes. The first time, set the timer for 5 minutes and watch it carefully. You want the cheese to melt and continue to bubble and cook until it starts turning brown. If it's not done enough it will be rubbery.

This is what is should look like when it's done...sort of, if my camera could only capture the right coloring.

Break it up, and you're ready to enjoy your cheese snack. I love this with a taco salad, basically lettuce,cilantro and ground beef with taco seasoning. You can make taco shells out of the cheese too. I'll show you that later.

Be sure and make plenty. I bag some of it to take with me for a quick snack, like when I go to the movies.

Here's the icing on the cheese....NO CARBS! Eat all you want.