Kitchen Hack: Open Faced Tacos - Street Tacos

Looking for a new way to serve delicious tacos? Go open-faced! I first saw these delicious street-style tacos while visiting a friend in LA.There are several advantages to making your tacos open faced. Here are 3 of them:

1. They look bigger when they are open-faced instead of folded.
2. You can use soft corn tortillas instead of fried ones.
3. They look gorgeous when they are topped with fresh herbs and a drizzle of plain, non-fat yogurt.

Check out this chicken taco, complete with grilled chicken and veggies, herbs, and plain yogurt. One taco is just 143 calories!You can vary the protein and veggies. This is a great way to use up leftovers. To make them vegetarian, used cooked pinto or black beans instead of the chicken. For a really fun way to serve them, offer a variety of ingredients, complete with warm corn tortillas, and allow everyone to make their own.Corn tortillas have more flavor and less salt than flour tortillas and they come in smaller sizes. Check out this chart (source: USDA, manufacturer's data):

Tortilla Type and Size	Calories, each	Sodium (mg)
6-inch corn tortilla	58	3
6-inch flour tortilla	90	206
10-inch flour tortilla	217	500

Topping ideas:Protein - lean chicken, fish, shrimp, cooked beans, lean beefVeggies - grilled onions, peppers, corn kernels, fresh tomatoes, steamed broccoliSauces - salsa, nonfat yogurt, lime juiceGarnishes - fresh herbs or hot sauce  

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Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy’s passion for cooking began with helping her grandmother make raisin oatmeal for breakfast. From there, she earned her first food service job at 15, was accepted to the world-famous Culinary Institute of America at 18 (where she graduated second in her class), and went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland, where she focused on pastry arts and baking. After a decade in food service for Hyatt Hotels, Judy launched Food and Health Communications to focus on flavor and health. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude distinction from Johnson and Wales University with a BS in Culinary Arts, holds a master’s degree in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and runs a food photography & motion studio where her love is creating fun recipes and content.

Judy received The Culinary Institute of America’s Pro Chef II certification, the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year. Her enthusiasm for eating nutritiously and deliciously leads her to constantly innovate and use the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to guide her creativity, from putting new twists on fajitas to adapting Italian brownies to include ingredients like toasted nuts and cooked honey. Judy’s publishing company, Food and Health Communications, is dedicated to her vision that everyone can make food that tastes as good as it is for you.