Taco Time

My husband and I come from completely different culinary backgrounds.

I come from a family of heart disease and high cholesterol. Most of my grandparents have suffered from some type of heart problem and one of my grandfathers had one heart attack and TWO bypass surgeries! Needless to say I grew up in a grilled chicken and broccoli family. I remember dinner table conversations as a child about how broccoli was good for my lipids and what are lipids anyway? We avoided gravies, sauces, and and dairy that wasn't low fat. We drank fat free milk. Food was grilled and never fried!

My husband on the other hand comes from a family with a very strong German background. I learned quickly that that translates into lots of meat and potato dishes with lots of sauce and gravy. This was a family in which cheese ruled supreme, dairy was never fat free and all the good stuff was fried! And wouldn't you know it they NEVER had to worry about cholesterol.

When I first started eating at my in-laws home I wondered if maybe they really didn't like me after all and were trying to cause me and my cholesterol prone DNA a slow and painful death caused by heart disease! Some how I survived!

During the early years of our marriage our cooking settled somewhere in the middle of the two extremes that are our families food styles. We rarely eat sauces or gravies and almost never fry anything. We DO eat cheese and butter in moderation and never have conversations about lipids at the dinner table.

Recently fried taco shells have been a frequent topic of conversation. This is owing mostly to a wonderful friend who fries her taco shells. My husband happened to be over at her home a few times when she had made tacos and remarked on how the smell of fried shells took him back to his childhood. Then in the late summer this friend and her family watched our girls for us for a few nights when we were out of town. And guess what she made for dinner? Tacos with fried shells! My girl have ranted and raved about her tacos and been completely unsatisfied with microwaved tortillas as a holder for their taco fillings ever sense!

So on Monday night a week or two back we were making our sad and sorry tacos.... when suddenly my hubby started frying up some shells. It was almost more than I could handle to watch him immersing those shell in bubbling oil. But it sure did smell good!

And let me tell you they sure did taste good too! Dad became an instant hero in our home as they man who fried taco shells. And my heart didn't stop instantly with that first bite! I think I've been missing out. Which is not to say that we will be eating tacos on fried shells on a regular basis. But on occasion I think they might be just fine...with a little low fat cheese and some fat free sour cream!


Yum!!!