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Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

6/27/2015

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Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
Get ready to see a lot of taco recipes! I've been eating them a lot recently. They're so versatile - almost a mix between a stir fry and a sandwich. You can cook up almost whatever combo you'd like - just throw together whatever you have in your fridge, stick it between some tortillas, and voila - you have dinner! Depending on how much chopping you have to do and what kind of vegetables you're cooking the whole thing takes 10-20 minutes!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
Also, you can really play around and have fun with the flavors, combining different cuisines so that it doesn't feel like you're eating the same thing all the time. This recipe has pretty standard Mexican and South American flavors, but in later recipes I post you'll see that you can put pretty much anything in a taco. I like the combination of potatoes and beans for a couple reasons. They both substantial enough to give you something to bite into and leave you feeling full and satisfied. The sweet potato adds a lot of flavor on its own, so you really don't need to add many additional spices. And of course, they're both full of nutrition - protein, potassium, fiber, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C - they're a winning combo!
Ingredients:
1 Cup Chopped Sweet Potato (roughly the same size as the beans)
1/2 Cup Cooked Black Beans
3 Taco Shells
1/4 Cube of Tofu
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar (or Lemon Juice)
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Chili Powder (optional)
Salsa
Salad Greens
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 1
Instructions:
Add a small amount of water to a medium-sized skillet on medium heat, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chopped sweet potatoes and stir them around a bit to make sure they don't stick to the pan. Cook the potatoes for about 5 minutes. You'll need to add more water, a little bit at a time, to make sure they don't stick. Only add enough to keep the potatoes off the bottom of the pan, you don't want the potatoes to be swimming in the water otherwise you'll be boiling them and they won't get any sort of a crisp to them. When the potatoes are almost to the desired amount of softness, add the beans, cumin, paprika, and chili powder. Continue to add water and stir until the potatoes reach your desired softness and the beans are warm.

If you feel like you can take your eyes of the potatoes (you should be able to), then you can make the sour cream while they're cooking. Or, you can turn the potato and bean mixture to low once they're done and make the sour cream then. Break up the tofu a bit and put it in a food processor. You don't need to break it up that much, it just helps mix together better to spread it around the food processor since you aren't adding that many ingredients. Add the apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and blend together. If you would like the sour cream to be more liquidy you can add more vinegar/juice or just water.

I keep my tortillas in the freezer. Right before I'm ready to eat my tacos I place the tortilla on a small pan on high heat - about a 7 or 8 out of 10 - for a couple seconds. Since they still have some moisture from being frozen they don't burn. Watch it until it starts to look dry on the bottom and then flip it over and quickly warm it on the other side. The whole process shouldn't take more than a few seconds.

Top your tacos with the potato and bean mixture, the sour cream, some salsa and greens and anything else you would like to add. Enjoy!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
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Beyond Meat Tacos

1/12/2015

4 Comments

 
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I try to eat whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible, but I like to try a new vegan product at least once. I find it exciting when I see advancements in vegan food options and I think vegan meat alternatives are a great way to help those making the transition from omnivore to vegetarian or vegan diets.

These Beyond Meat beef crumbles are so close to the real thing its amazing. Plus they're so convenient. They come frozen and defrost so quickly. You just dump the frozen crumbles right into your saute pan with a little bit of water and they're quickly ready to go. As you'll see in the instructions below, this was a super quick dinner came together in a breeze. The longest part was chopping up the tomato and avocado and putting everything in little bowls!
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Cashew sour cream is a great alternative for those trying to avoid soy or if you just don't have any tofu in the house. That's how I found myself the other night, so I decided to whip up some cashew sour cream. Jay loves cashew sour cream more than regular, although tofu sour cream is his favorite, since it's naturally creamier. When I make cashew sour cream I make sure so blend it for as long as possible so that it gets creamier, since it can tend to have more of a grainy texture. Soaking the cashews beforehand can help with this, but I didn't have any time - the crumbles cooked so quickly and we were hungry!
Ingredients:
1 Package Beyond Meat Frozen Beef Crumbles
6 Taco Tortillas (I used La Nina Tortillas)
1 Packet Taco Seasoning (I used Ortega 40% Less Sodium)

Toppings:
1 Avocado
4 oz Cherry Tomatoes
Spinach or other green

Cashew Sour Cream:
1/2 Cup Cashews
1/3 Cup Water
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 6 tacos
Instructions:
Slice the avocado and tomato.

Cook frozen Beyond Meat Crumbles on the stove with a little bit of water until it is no longer frozen. Add the taco seasoning a stir until well combined.

Add the cashews, water, and lemon juice to a food processor and blend until smooth.

Heat a second pan over the stove. Place a tortilla on the pan for about a minute, or until crispy, then flip to the other side and repeat.

Tear the spinach and place it on the tortilla, add a quarter cup of taco mix, sour cream, avocado, and tomato. Enjoy!
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4 Comments

Butternut Squash Tacos

11/11/2014

3 Comments

 
Looking for something to do with the other half of the butternut squash you used for the macaroni? Here's what I made!
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I actually made this before I made the macaroni, but since it's based on a recipe from someone else I didn't want to leave off with it on the blog. I thought #TacoTuesday would be a great day to post it!

This recipe comes from the great Richa Hingle over at Vegan Richa. I made the butternut squash part almost exactly the same way. I didn't have any Chipotle sauce so I used her alternate of BBQ sauce plus taco seasoning. Jay had an Old El Paso taco kit on hand and I was really worried that the tacos were going to be sweet because of the butternut squash so I used the taco seasoning from that (we don't use the sauce they provide). These are definitely Jay Approved! They were some of the best tacos I've ever had. We both had them for left overs and when I finished them off Jay was definitely upset there were none left for him. I plan on making them again but this time I'll use a healthier taco seasoning - probably this one I've had pinned on Pinterest for a while but have yet to make...
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The night I made this it was one of those nights where we had nothing on hand, so I had to scramble to find some toppings to put on the tacos. I had some frozen corn in the freezer, homemade pickles carrots in the fridge, and some salsa so I threw those on and I made some quick vegan mayonnaise using Mori-Nu tofu. Mori-Nu tofu is packaged in an aseptic box so it is shelf stable and is great to have in your pantry for nights like this. Normally I make cashew sour cream, but Jay said that he liked the texture of the tofu sour cream better - it was a lot smoother and closer to sour cream than cashews.
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For night 2 I had time to run to the store and grab some avocado to go along with the corn, sour cream, and salsa. 
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Ingredients:

For Tacos:
1/2 Butternut Squash, peeled, with seeds removed
1 tsp Oil (or water)
1/4 Cup BBQ sauce
1 Package Taco seasoning
1/4 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Chipotle Pepper Powder
2 Tbsp Water

Toppings:
1/2 Cup Corn
Avocado
Salsa
Any other toppings of your choice - cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
Sour Cream:
1 Package tofu
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions:
Shred butternut squash with a cheese shredder. Heat oil in pan and add squash. Cook for a few minutes, until heated all the way through.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, but don't cook too much.
While that's cooking, make your sour cream. Add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until well combined.
Once heated all the way through, add squash to the taco shell of your choice and add your toppings. Make it gluten free by using corn tortillas or make a taco bowl by putting it on top of quinoa or rice.
3 Comments

    Author

    This blog is about my adventures adhering to a plant-based diet in a meat-based world and incorporating vegan practices into more parts of my life. As many of my friends and family aren't vegan, and the best part of cooking is sharing your food with others, I try to make recipes that can be enjoyed by vegans and meat-eaters alike. 

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