Green Apple Tacos with Cinnamon-Sugar

We often walk by Annie’s Pretzels and we miss those delightful cinnamon-sugary bites. This works well to fix that craving.

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Recipe:

Cut up some green apples, set aside.

Warm corn tortillas (or gluten-free tortillas) in a skillet with coconut oil or canola oil.

Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar and stuff with the apples.

Eat! 🙂

We loved these. My son especially loved these as he prefers crispy fresh apples. If you want to get creative, you could cook your apples down, or add pecans, shredded coconut, dates, rum-soaked raisins, shredded carrots, maple breakfast sausage – or whatever you think would be good!

Have fun!

Extremely Satisfying Vegan Taco Salad

Most of you probably already make this in your own way. If you haven’t made it in a while, let me just remind you that this is great quick meal idea. This hearty vegan taco salad, made with a seasoned mixture of beans and rice instead of meat, had us all walking away from the table feeling very full and satisfied.

We worked with the pot of black beans we made the night before (see Working with Dried Beans). Just season the beans and rice and assemble your favorite taco salad ingredients together.

How to Season the Beans & Rice

In a large skillet, warm up 2 cups of beans and 1 cup of rice with enough liquid to almost cover.

Add 1 Tablespoon of chili powder and 1-2 teaspoons of ground cumin. Add salt to taste. (Always taste it to make sure you like it). If you want a more tomato tone to it, add an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce or tomato paste. If it needs a little acidity, add a bit of lime or taco sauce.

Once the beans and rice are seasoned and warmed up, assemble your plates something like this:

Taco Salad

I use spinach instead of lettuce for almost everything calling for some greens, and this is just one of the applications. It’s easier to work with, has more nutritional value and provides the same crispy texture that lettuce does. (And it’s a prettier green, don’t you think?) It also stores easily if I want to use the spinach for several dinners.

We topped this with 3-Minute Fiesta Dip and ALDI’s prepared guacamole.

Add veggies of choice, some Daiya brand cheddar-flavor shreds if you have them, some taco sauce and it’s an easy dinner. Enjoy!

Highly Addictive 3-Minute Fiesta Dip (Dairy-free version)

Dear beloved readers, this recipe-share is an extension of my gratitude for your loving support over this past year. My Mom makes this for me every time we visit. It’s my favorite.

My only request is that you pass the love forward and serve this at parties and enjoy the almost undeserved kudos you’ll get as this recipe is so quick and easy that it’s almost a sin to take any credit for it.

As long as I can remember, any of us who were in or near the kitchen while this was being made, would sneak a taste while Mom’s back was turned. We usually got caught, and she’d give us the half joking “Mom-smirk.” It’s possible that what was left for actual dinner (as condiment for her wonderful enchiladas), was approximately half of what she actually prepared.

Now, don’t expect anything spectacular. It’s just a dip. But it’s quick, tasty, and most people take quite a chippy shine to it.

Note that the measurements are estimated. Adjust the ingredients to your liking.

Addictive Fiesta Dip

3-Minute Fiesta Dip

1 cups of Tofutti cream cheese or Tofutti Sour Cream (use the sour cream for thinner texture)

For soy-free version, use soy-free Veganaise

1/3 cup Ortega medium taco sauce*

1/4 to 1/3 cup regular salsa

Stir all of the ingredients in a bowl. If you are using the Tofutti cream cheese, you may want to use your small food processor or put your muscles into it and blend it with a fork.

Sprinkle a bit of ground cumin and freshly cracked pepper on the top (optional).

There, you’re done. Make sure you do not forget the chips!

Here are a few things this dip/sauce is good for:

Dressing for taco salad

Sauce for enchiladas

Sauce for empanadas

Potato chips

Tortilla chips

Veggies – (if you must be healthy) 🙂

* The taco sauce is the most important ingredient. Do not skimp on this. If you don’t have enough, your dip will be bland and boring. Add more until you’ve reached addictive stage and begin eating this by the spoonful. (shhhh… no one needs to know!)

Here is a picture of the ingredients I used:

Ingredients