Vegan Taco Night

v2020.10.08

Tacos, burritos, refried beans, Spanish rice, hot sauce, salsa, queso; these are some of my favorite foods. As a young child I remember eating at Tex-Mex restaurants with Mom & Dad. I didn’t like hot sauce then so I would dip the chips in those individual butter containers. Now, I really love hot sauce and could drink it by the gallon. This recipe tastes like Taco Bell or a decent Tex-Mex restaurant that doesn’t squeeze beans from a tube. This recipe is several recipes I have made before that I have combined so that I can have Taco Night for a week. In the image above I have used 6 romaine lettuce leaves to make 3 tacos. The flavor is more like a burrito because of the rice and beans but I love it.

In this recipe I have used romaine lettuce as a wrap but you could use butter lettuce, cabbage, iceberg lettuce, collards, sliced jicama, bok choy, or napa cabbage. You could also just eat this as a dip using carrots, broccoli, french fries, celery, cauliflower, okra, apples, etc.

Makes 3078g, 8.623 meals at 300kcal each.

Keywords: soy free, fat-free, nut free, seed free, oil free, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, sugar free, animal free, no added sugar, no added fat, no added oil, no added salt

Ingredients:

Spanish Beans & Rice

168g, 1 cup – Pinto Beans, dry
670g, 3 cups – Vegetable Broth or Water
168g, 1 cup – Basmati Brown Rice
2 tsp – Garlic Powder
5 tsp – Cumin
1-½ tsp – Chipotle
3 tsp – Oregano
½ tsp – Chili Powder (no salt added)
Additional Vegetable Broth or Water

Queso Cheese Dip

592g, 4 – Gold or Yellow Potatoes
264g, 4 – Carrots
206g, ½ can – Tomatoes
200g, 1 – Onion
20g, 1 – Jalapeno
42g, 1 – Lemon or Lime
2 tsp – Garlic Powder
2 tsp – Onion Powder
1-½ tsp – Chipotle
¼ tsp – Turmeric
64g, 1 cup – Nutritional Yeast (unfortified)

Hot Sauce

411g, 1 can – Tomatoes
200g, 2 – Carrots
4 – Garlic Cloves
1 – Serrano Pepper
1 tsp – Cumin
1 tsp – Cilantro
2 tsp – Chipotle

Onion & Mushroom Salsa

242g, 1 – Onions Sweet
134g, 8 – Mushrooms, white button
Additional Vegetable Broth or Water
180g, ½ can – Tomatoes

Instructions:

Spanish Beans & Rice

  1. Add beans and vegetable broth to the Instant Pot and cook for 40 minutes using a natural pressure release.
  2. Remove 122g of cooked beans and use the immersion blender on the beans in the pot.
  3. With the bean water still in the pot add the rice. Cook for 22 minutes with the “keep warm” feature off and use a natural pressure release. The rice will absorb all the liquid and there will be very minimal sticking to the pot.
  4. Mix in the whole beans and spices using as much vegetable broth as necessary to make it easy to mix. Add the broth in small amounts and all of it will be absorbed by the beans and rice.

Queso Cheese Dip

  1. Chop everything and add it to the Instant Pot with vegetable broth. Steam for 20 minutes using quick release.
  2. Add tomatoes, lemon, lime to the blender first then add the other vegetables. Press everything down so that they make contact with the blade. Then blend until it has a smooth cheese dip like consistency. Next add the spices and blend. *You shouldn’t need extra liquid if everything is still warm.

Hot Sauce

  1. Add tomatoes to the blender then add everything else and blend.

Onion & Mushroom Salsa  

  1. Heat up a frying pan then chop mushrooms and onion.
  2. Add the onion to the pan and make sure it is spread out so that the onion makes contact with the pan. Then wait a few minutes.
  3. Get your vegetable broth ready and start checking for brown spots sticking to the pan. When you see that it is sticking, pour a very small amount of vegetable broth and move the onion around to deglaze the pan.
  4. When the onion has browned a bit you can remove it from the pan and drop in the mushrooms and saute them the same way.
  5. Remove the mushrooms from the pan when cooked and mix with the onions and tomatoes.
  6. Get 6 romaine lettuce leaves and stack 2 leaves then add in this order Spanish Beans & Rice, Onion & Mushroom Salsa, Hot Sauce, and Queso Cheese Dip. Do the same for the other lettuce leaves.
  7. Serve.

Note: The Spanish beans & rice, onion & mushroom salsa, and queso cheese dip are best served warm. 

 

Four Jicama Tacos

 

Two Jicama Tacos

Jicama Taco Inside

 

Butterhead Lettuce Taco

 

Four Butterhead Lettuce Tacos

Vegan Queso Cheese Dip

Vegan Queso Cheese Dip

 

v2020.09.26

I was looking for a recipe that is free of nuts, seeds, beans, plant milk, and oil. I was able to find this simple recipe for pourable vegan cheese dip made from potatoes, onions, and carrots. It has a sweet, tangy, slightly spicy, and creamy taste. It reminds me of when my mom used to buy those huge containers of cheese dip, but since this isn’t a tub of fat it doesn’t make me feel sluggish. This cheese dip is less spicy than the mild cheddar Fritos cheese dip. This would be great on enchiladas or mixed with diced tomatoes and jalapenos.

Makes 1140g, 5 cups, 960kcal.

Original Recipe:
https://shaneandsimple.com/vegan-cheese-sauce/

Keywords: soy free, fat-free, nut free, seed free, oil free, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, sugar free, animal free, no added sugar, no added fat, no added oil, no added salt

Ingredients:

554g, 4 – Potatoes
264g, 4 – Carrots
234g, 1 – Onion
216g, 2 – Tomato
20g, 1 – Jalapeno
52g, 1 cup – Nutritional Yeast unfortified
2 TBSP – Lemon or Lime Juice
2 tsp – Garlic Powder
2 tsp – Onion Powder
1-½ tsp – Chipotle
¼ tsp – Turmeric
108g, ¾ cup – Vegetable Broth or Water

Instructions:

1. Chop everything and add to the Instant Pot steamer basket using vegetable broth or water Steam for 20 minutes then do a quick release.

2. Move everything to the blender and blend as necessary.

3. Then add spices, lime juice, and water as necessary and continue blending.

4. Serve warm or allow to cool and then refrigerate.

 

Vegan Queso Cheese Dip with Airfryer Fries

Air Fryer French Fries with Vegan Cheese Dip