mostly raw vegan taco salad

It was a hot day today. 32 degrees C to be exact. It’s going to be hotter by the end of the week. The last thing I wanted to do was to spend an hour over a hot stove cooking up a meal, especially because our air conditioner isn’t quite working yet – we can use it to cycle air but not cool it until Gary gets on the roof to check it all out.

So I decided on salad. But I needed something filling yet light. I remembered our visit to the Veggie Bar and being intrigued by the “raw taco” on the menu. So I got busy googling.

One of the things I love about cooking is taking ideas from a few different places and putting it all together into one delicious meal.

Following my google quest, I took this recipe and this recipe, combined them with this sour cream and then added a few tweaks of my own to get….

Once the sour cream was added it didn’t look so bright and colourful.

see my awesome food presentation/photography skillz?

If I was making a fully raw meal I would have used a cashew cream based sauce but that requires forward planning and soaking cashews from the morning so that wasn’t going to happen. Tofu sour cream is a great substitute and also a good protein boost for the meal that’s already packed full of nutrients.

I used the layered salad idea from the first recipe, combined with the nut mix of the second, and added my own veggie salsa type thing. I’ve made a warm (lightly cooked) corn and zucchini salsa before so I figured there was no reason I couldn’t make a raw one.

salsa
I combined 1 finely chopped zucchini with one can of corn, about half a capsicum (also finely chopped) and a handful of small tomatoes.

I also added some finely chopped red onion, juice of 1 lime, coriander and salt and pepper.

all the pretty colours…

I let that sit while I got everything else together (including my chunky guacamole)

quick and chunky guacamole

2 avocados, roughly chopped and mixed with lime juice to taste (add a little, tast, add more if needed), and a handful of chopped coriander too. A twist or two each of salt and pepper and mash to desired chunkiness.

Assemble the salad in layers – greens (I used a lettuce mix), nut mix, grated carrot, salsa, guacamole and the sour cream.

Delicious, fresh, colourful, flavorful, and good for you.

Enjoy!

Salad fever!

I’ve been craving a big bowl of greens for the past couple of days… And I’m wondering if that’s connected to me feeling so tired over the past couple of days.

I ended up getting takeaway last night because of this:

I went for a ride on my bike and it was so lovely and I felt so fantastic I just kept riding. I planned to be home earlier but a bit over 30kms later I got home and realized it was probably a bit too late to start organizing dinner.

So we had Pad Thai (which was great anyway). Today I struggled with lunch. I didn’t end up having time to go grab the sandwich or rice paper rolls I wanted, and in a massive rush I dashed into the service station to get one of the oat bars to get me through. But guess what? There was only yoghurt coated ones left – ugh! But rather than passing out on the hour drive to the meeting I had to get to, I ate it just to get me through. I grabbed some nuts – there was only salted ones available.

So my body was still waiting for that delicious hit of fresh tasty greens.

So then I made this!

Nice big bowl of greens, carrot, cucumber, capsicum, sprouts and pecans. I’ve dished it up with a couple of veggie burgers and some onions caramelised in balsamic vinegar.

Let’s have another look at it.

Just what I was after!