ABOUT THIS BOOK

Just about everyone loves Mexican food, but should you eat it if you want to manage your weight or diabetes? Yes, absolutely! There are literally hundreds of authentic Mexican dishes that are naturally healthy—moderate in calories, fat, and sugar—and completely delectable. In Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking, Jim Peyton presents some two hundred recipes that have exceptional nutrition profiles, are easy to prepare, and, most important of all, taste delicious.

Peyton starts from the premise that for any diet to work, you have to enjoy the food you’re eating. Substitutions that alter the taste and pleasure of food, such as nonfat yogurt for mayonnaise, have no place here. Instead, you’ll find tasty, highly nutritious, low-calorie dishes from the various schools of Mexican and Mexican American cooking in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. From traditional meat, seafood, and vegetarian entrees and antojitos mexicanos, including tacos, enchiladas, and tamales, to upscale alta cocina mexicana such as shrimp ceviche and mango salsa, these recipes are authentic, simple for home cooks to prepare with supermarket ingredients, flavorful, and fully satisfying in moderate portions. Every recipe includes nutritional analysis—calories, protein, carbs, fat, cholesterol, fiber, sugar, and sodium. In addition to the recipes, Peyton offers helpful information on diet and healthy eating, Mexican cooking and nutrition, ingredients, cooking techniques, and cooking equipment.

Try the recipes in Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking, and you’ll discover that comfort food can be both delicious and good for you. ¡Buen provecho!

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

JIM PEYTON brings four decades of cooking, teaching, and recipe development experience to this cookbook. He is the author of Jim Peyton’s The Very Best of Tex-Mex Cooking: Plus Texas Barbecue and Texas Chile; Jim Peyton’s New Cooking from Old Mexico; La Cocina de la Frontera: Mexican-American Cooking from the Southwest; and El Norte: The Cuisine of Northern Mexico. Peyton has been featured on Bobby Flay’s Food Network show and in Southern Living; he has written about Mexican food and drink for three Lonely Planet guidebooks to Mexico, and he consults in the areas of recipe and product development for the Mexican food industry. He lives in San Antonio, Texas.

REVIEWS

We need more healthy interpretations of Mexican cuisine like Jim Peyton’s wonderful cookbook! Other cookbooks with healthy Mexican recipes haven’t been able to reduce calories and [still] retain flavor profiles. These recipes are easy, flavorful, and healthy.

— Angela Shelf Medearis, The Kitchen Diva, author of seven cookbooks, including The Kitchen Diva’s Diabetic Cookbook: 150 Healthy, Delicious Recipes for Diabetics and Those Who Dine With Them

My family is very familiar with many of these recipes, having cooked them for our families, as well as our customers, for over forty years. They truly represent the heritage and culture of our ancestors. . . . Anyone from the family cook to a nutritionist will be able to use and enjoy this book.

— Diana Barrios Treviño, owner of Los Barrios restaurant and author of Los Barrios Family Cookbook: Tex-Mex Recipes from the Heart of San Antonio

This book will be valuable to anyone who loves cooking and eating south-of-the-border food—and doesn’t want to sacrifice taste for healthy choices, or vice versa.

— Foreword

Peyton’s cookbook . . . offer[s] recipes that may seem strange at first but could signal the beginning of a long love affair with the real food of Mexico. Emphasizing genuine ingredients . . . the recipes take advantage of Mexican food’s versatility to retain characteristic flavors while keeping medical appointments to a minimum.

— Chris Walters, Acres

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
- Diet and Healthy Eating
- Diabetics and Diet
- Mexican Cooking and Nutrition
- Ingredients
- Cooking Techniques
- Cooking Equipment
- Introduction to the Recipes
Drinks
Tortillas
Salsas and Relishes
Botanas
Rice, Beans, and Other Side Dishes
Soups
Salads
Egg Dishes
Antojitos Mexicanos
Poultry Entrées
Beef Entrées
Pork Entrées
Lamb Entrées
Seafood Entrées
Vegetarian Entrées
Desserts
Bibliography
Index