Taquitos! Vegan, Whole Food, Plant Based

You may have noticed a taquitos theme in my previous posts.  All roads (or recent posts it seems) lead to taquitos.  

What can I say, other than we've missed them and these were pretty fabulous?

Be warned that this recipe contains several links to full recipes of some of the ingredients. If you don't already have the bouillon, ranch dressing, or salsa this recipe can be time consuming (but oh so worth it!), then again, if you are cooking or eating wfpb, you probably expect time consuming cooking anyways.


Taquito Shells - plan for 4-6 per person (this should allow for leftovers/lunch the following day)
1 Vegan Meat recipe
(1 cauliflower, 1 cup walnuts, 4-6 large shiitakes, 2 T. soy sauce or liquid aminos)
1 onion - diced
4 large garlic cloves - minced
1-2 T. chicken bouillon (vegan)
1 t. cumin
salt to taste (if needed)
2 medium potatoes - baked and peeled (cooked for 6-8 min in microwave until soft, then placed in plastic bag to sweat for 10 min., (to allow for easier peeling) then peeled)


Toppings
Ranch Dressing - vegan & oil free
Taquito Salsa - oil free
chopped spinach, arugula or lettuce
chopped tomatoes

Meat Filling:
Place vegan meat into large fry pan. Add peeled potatoes, onion, garlic and bouillon and mix with a potato masher, until potato is thoroughly mixed into the meat mixture.

Heat through with the addition of a couple of tablespoons of water (to keep it from sticking).

To assemble taquitos, place meat filling in the bottom of taquito shell, add chopped greens, tomatoes, then taquito salsa and finally vegan ranch.
 

Versatile Plant Based "Meat" from Cauliflower, Walnuts and Shiitake Mushrooms

In the (almost) year that we've been eating whole food, plant based, I've learned an important rule.
NEVER cook something you used to love, expecting it to taste like it used to. Just don't, because you'll be disappointed - I've been disappointed a lot! When you cut out the sugar, oil, processed flours and ingredients, of course the flavor will change. There's just no getting around it.

Note - This photo contains onions, garlic, potatoes and taquito seasonings

In trying to find a meat substitute, we played with jackfruit for a while, trying to come up with some pulled pork options with little success. We had jackfruit tacos at a restaurant and we loved them (but I'm pretty sure they still used sugar and oil), but we couldn't replicate them - no matter how many variations on a theme we tried.  My point is, things just don't work, or turn out the same.

That said, I was super dubious about trying some different recipes for fake meat using cauliflower, mushrooms and walnuts.  Let me be clear - this doesn't taste like meat. Even with seasonings, it doesn't taste like meat. It does however, have a great texture, and a very mild flavor that carries flavors VERY well (perfect for mexican dishes).  We've used it for tacos, power bowls, and taquitos (all different flavor profiles) and we've been very pleased with it. My teenagers will eat it - need I say more? Super simple, and you can adjust your seasonings as needed for your dish.

1 small head of cauliflower - trimmed and broken into 1-2 inch pieces
1 cup walnuts
4-6 large shiitake mushrooms - cut into 1 inch pieces (+/-)

Using a food processor, one ingredient at a time, process into a coarse crumb, sized to your preference - between a corn kernel, and a rice kernel.

Mix in bowl.

Add 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce or liquid aminos and mix thoroughly.

Heat oven to 350*, and spread mixture into a shallow baking pan.
Bake for 30 minutes. Stirring once at 20 minutes.

Season as desired.

Plant Based Carne Asada

I'm a sucker for latin foods...oh me oh my! 

This carne asada is one of my most visited recipes here, and it's probably in my top 5 favorite foods. My daughter asked for carne asada for her birthday and while I made hers with skirt steak, I was bound and determined to figure out how to make carne asada vegan style so that I could enjoy it too. 

I bet you can guess what we'll be having for Mother's Day??! Can't wait! 

I hope you'll enjoy this much as we do. I've tweaked my marinade and added mushrooms and honestly, could eat this raw as a salad as well as cooked.  

Carne Asada Marinade or Mojo
1/4 c. key lime juice (the very small green limes)**this is key for the flavor
1/4 c. coconut milk
2 T. white vinegar
4 garlic cloves - pressed or very finely diced
1/2-3/4 c. chopped cilantro
1/2 t. ground cumin
2 t. kosher salt (less if table salt)
Jalapeño or serano chiles, minced (optional - to taste)
1/4 t. crushed red peppers (optional - to taste)
2 t. pure maple syrup (more or less to taste)

3-4 cups sliced mushrooms - portabello and shiitake

Combine ingredients except for mushrooms in a non-metal bowl. 

Add 3-4 cups sliced portabello and shiitake mushrooms and toss to coat. 

Allow to marinade for at least 1 hour, gently tossing - occasionally.

Heat grill. 

Place ingredients onto a sheet of foil, and fold edges to seal. Wrap with an additional layer (or two) of foil. 

Grill for 10-15 minutes, turning once. 

Remove and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. 

Serve inside of warmed corn tortillas, with black beans, rice, pico de gallo and guacamole.