Huevos rancheros is easy to lighten up
By Elaine Magee
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I love ordering the huevos rancheros from a restaurant chain in my city, but I know I'm just getting a rich, high- calorie and -fat meal. For health reasons, my husband and I are interested in lightening things up, and we have loved your new book, "Food Synergy." We are hoping you can do a huevos rancheros makeover in time for summer!
A. You had me at "we have loved your new book". Seriously though, I also love huevos rancheros and a lighter version is definitely easy to make at home. The name huevos (Spanish for eggs) rancheros comes from serving eggs either sunny side up or scrambled with ranchero sauce, which is a cooked sauce featuring tomatoes and chiles along with a few other ingredients.
To make this easy and quick, I suggest using your favorite salsa instead of ranchero sauce and, if you prefer your eggs scrambled, you can keep it easy by using an egg substitute (i.e. Egg Beaters "with yolk"). To eliminate some of the excess fat and calories but increase fiber and nutrients, crisp up and brown a multigrain tortilla in a nonstick frying pan instead of deep frying, top the eggs with reduced-fat cheddar or jack cheese, and garnish the dish with fat-free sour cream. Avocado will add a welcome dose of monounsaturated fat, fiber and nutrients.
Making these changes pulls together a yummy light version of huevos rancheros but with 40 percent fewer calories, 70 percent less fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
A restaurant version of this dish might contain around 685 calories, 43 grams fat, 14.5 grams saturated fat, and 520 milligrams cholesterol and half of the fiber per serving.
EASY & LIGHT HUEVOS RANCHEROS
Begin heating a medium, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lay a tortilla in skillet and flip over when underside is lightly brown. Lightly brown other side of tortilla and set aside. Repeat with remaining tortilla.
Reduce heat to medium-low and brush bottom of skillet lightly with canola oil using a silicon brush, or coat with canola cooking spray. Pour in egg substitute or egg mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until eggs are cooked to your desired texture (about two minutes). Turn off heat and add black pepper to taste. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the eggs and cover skillet.
While cheese is melting, in small bowl, combine black beans with salsa.
To assemble huevos rancheros, top each of the crisp tortillas with half of the scrambled egg mixture, half of the black bean mixture, a dollop of sour cream, and half of the avocado slices and chopped tomato.
Makes 2 servings.
