Recipe: Vegan Taco Salad (With a Twist)

Every week, I receive this amazing little green bin on my doorstep that is stocked with fresh, organic, local vegetables.  Depending on the week, I can churn through these fresh goodies quickly…or I struggle to use them up before the next week when another great bin arrives.  This week, it was one of the slower-through-the-produce weeks as my roommate had her last wisdom tooth removed and was on soft food.  But she humored me the other night…and let me use up quite a few of our veggies to create this amazing dish.

I spotted this recipe on Pinterest…and it seemed easy enough…and very, very delicious!!  So, with my roomie’s permission and blessing, this is what I fixed for dinner.  Of course, I tweaked it a little to use up some of the ingredients I had from my bin…but those will be noted in the recipe.

The recipe itself is taken from the blog Healthful Pursuit.  As I said…I added my own fresh veggie twist on it to polish off some of the items from my bin.

Recipe: Vegan Taco Salad (With a Twist)

Servings: 1
Time: Prep 10 minutes; Cook 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Taco seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

  

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/2 white onion, sliced
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon taco seasoning

• 1/2 avocado flesh, mashed
• 1 tablespoon finely diced white onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cilantro-Lime Dressing:

• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, rinsed well
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons honey, to your taste
• salt and pepper to taste

• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce (I used cabbage)
• 1 tomato, chopped (I roasted and chopped organic beets)
• Salsa (optional, I didn’t use)
• Corn Tortillas (optional, I didn’t use)

Directions:

Make the taco seasoning.  In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

Add sliced onion and water to a medium-sized saucepan. Heat on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes, until onions are softened.

Add chickpeas and taco seasoning and reduce heat to medium.  Cook uncovered for another 2-3 minutes, until heated through.

Meanwhile, add guacamole ingredients to a small bowl and mash with a fork to combine. Set aside.

Make the cilantro lime dressing.  Feed cilantro leaves through food processor tube and process until finely minced.  Add lime juice and process a few seconds.  Slowly pour olive oil through food processor tube and process until dressing emulsifies.  Add honey, season with salt and pepper, and process a few seconds to combine.

Pile all of the salad ingredients in a bowl. Top with guacamole and taco “meat”.

~*~*~

This made a lot of salad.  I doubled the recipe when I made it the other night.  It was filling and very, very delicious.  I was very impressed with the way the flavors came together.  Instead of salsa, I made a cilantro lime dressing, which really topped off all the ingredients nicely.  And instead of tomatoes, I roasted up some organic beets by wrapping them in foil and putting them in a 425 degree for an hour and a half.  After letting them cool, I peeled off the skins and put them in the fridge until dinner time the following day.  Then I chopped them up for the salad.  It added a nice earthy flavor.  The lettuce was replaced with the cabbage I had in my fridge as well.  It was a nice substitution that really, really worked well.

Substitute, dress it up as you like.  This vegan taco salad is amazing whether you make it your own or follow the original recipe.  Filling, full of great proteins, healthy fats, and great flavor.

I also made my own taco seasoning…and it was awesome!

Go ahead…give this a try!