Taco Tomato Tuesday (I Won!)

I think I might have won Taco Tuesday. I know, it’s not a contest. But, if it was, I’d be taking home a blue ribbon right now!

So, I was inspired to make this from one of those videos on Facebook. I wish I could remember which site, because I’d totally shout them out (ETA: I remember! It from Delish!). In the video, they used regular sized tomatoes. I took one look and thought “One GIANT tomato!!!” So, I went to the farmers market and set out to find the biggest most beautiful tomato I could find…And I found a one pounder…

This pic doesn’t do it justice!

Hey – It is huge, yes. However, it’s a tomato. It’s not a deep fried taco shell or a (not carb friendly) flour tortilla. It’s a tomato. A big , beautiful, locally grown tomato. I feel very good about eating the entire thing in one sitting. So, anywho…

I start by slicing this huge tomato. I don’t want to slice all the way down and I kind want to fan it out, like this:

That slice on the end missed the memo…

Then, I season that bad boy! Yes. The tomato itself must be well seasoned. I learned that from Rachael Ray – you have to season every part of the dish to get maximum flavor. I used Trader Joe’s Chile Lime seasoning, Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt, garlic powder and fresh cracked black pepper.

“Flavor every layer…” – Rachael Ray

Then, I fry my ground turkey (sorry no pics). I use the same seasonings I use for the tomato.

I top the tomato with the fried ground turkey and top that with a few slices of pepperjack cheese.

I LOVE cheese!

I place the loaded tomato in my toaster oven, set on broil. Really just to melt the cheese and in the meantime, I get my guacamole ready…

These are the small avocados. One was perfect for this recipe…

I make the easiest guac in the world. I just use an avocado (duh), lime juice and Trader Joe’s Chile Lime seasoning (can you guess what my favorite store is?). That’s it.

So, I didn’t take a picture of my tomato just out of the toaster oven. I was so excited to get all of my taco topping on it. Take a look…

WOW! Delish!

This is easily THE MOST DELICIOUS THING I’VE EVER MADE!

Wow! I think I owe it all to the hearty, delicious, juicy, incredible tomato I got at the farmers market on Saturday. That made all the difference!

MAKE THIS! It’s so easy (it’s a taco, in a tomato) and so delicious. YUM!!!

 

Zucchini Roses!

I saw something like this on “Tasty” or one of those random food videos on Facebook. The other recipe had carrots (blech), which made for a more colorful garden, but I think that yellow and green squash worked just fine. It also had a crust, but I am low-carbin’ it so no crust for me!

I started by making ribbons of the squash using my veggie peeler…

The vegetable peeler makes great ribbons…

This time making ribbons wasn’t so bad. When I made Zucchini Lasagna in the crock pot it took forever to make the ribbons I needed to fill the pan, even only 1/4 of the way full! I used tiny squashes today, because I was just using my small Corningware dish.

Then I made the base of the “garden”…

All the cheeses!

I mixed ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic powder and Italian seasoning right in the dish. No need to measure, just mix in however much you want! I also added mozzarella on top of the mixture…

More cheese!

The cheese will help keep the “roses” together in the dish.

Then I started rolling and planting…

Zucchini rose garden…

This part was a little bit more annoying than I though it would be. That’s only because I was hungry and I had no patience. Maybe I was even a little hangry. Just a bit…

I topped off my freshly planted roses with olive oil, more parmesan, salt and pepper…

All cheesed up

I popped the dish in the toaster oven for about 30-35 minutes and…

Yay! Something new to add to the low-carb repertoire!

You’ll notice, I like to use the toaster oven a lot. This is especially the case in the summer. If I don’t have to turn on the oven, I don’t.

Try it, it’s easy! Enjoy!