Huevos Rancheros Courtesy of Gabby

If you were reading my post on the Old Fat Ladies forum of the Atkins site, you know that I had Mexican soft tacos for dinner last night. I saved the leftover filling and other veggies in zip-locks and used them this morning for huevos rancheros. Most recipes you see call for a tortilla browned on the bottom of the eggs and fillings. I omitted the tortilla this morning and just stuck to the filling with the eggs. So here is what I made. Serves two.

Huevos Rancheros

If you made soft tacos the night before and saved leftover filling, that about all you need for the eggs. If not, here are the ingredients:
4 larges eggs
1/4 pound of ground chuck
1 1/2 to 2 Roma tomatoes with pulp and seeds removed- diced

1/4 medium onion chopped
1 seeded and diced jalapeno ( more if you like it hotter, or subtitute bell pepper if you want no heat)
1 small clove of garlic minced
1 teaspoon of dried Mexican oregano- if you don't have that, the Mediterranean is fine
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup of grated queso blanco
Olive oil or butter
Sour cream
Red Salsa- check the label to make sure it has no added sugar or make you own


To prepare, crumble the ground chuck in a non-stick skillet. As it begins to brown, add the cumin, oregano, cilantro, garlic and salt and pepper to the meat and let them brown with the meat to increase the flavor.At the last couple of minutes add the tomatoes and let them begin to wilt. Remove this from the heat. Beat the four eggs with a teaspoon of water till fluffy. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel, and add just enough olive oil to barely cover the bottom of the skillet. Heat the skillet to medium and place the eggs in the skillet. Stir them around with a spoon and as they begin to cook add the filling and the cheese. When the eggs are done, remove them to two plates. Top with a tablespoon of sour cream and a tablespoon of the salsa. Absolutely delicious, full of protein and enough energy in this dish to last you for hours! Typically the Mexicans put the egs over corn tortillas which have been browned. I omitted that part because the tortillas have simply too many carbs. This could be served over a toasted low carb tortilla, depending on which phase of Atkins you're on.

Variations- you can fry the eggs, place the filling on the bottom of the plates, top with the fried eggs, sour cream and salsa. If you are at the phase where you can add beans to your WOE, you can use pinto beans instead of the meat. My housekeeper/ babysitter always made it with the meat and scrambled the mixture into the eggs.

Hope you enjoy!