Taco Tuesday

Well, we made it! We have been residents of Mississippi for just over 3 weeks now, and are finally getting settled in. Most of the boxes are unpacked and the last room that needs work (the man cave) is well on its way. Liam has been taking everything very well, which is exceptional because for the first few days he slept in his pack and play in an over crowded room .  The area around our new house is very cute, with lots of stuff walking distance.  I just picked out a new bicycle today and am looking forward to taking  family rides down to the beach that is about a 10 minute bike ride from here!

Liam and I will be coming back to Oklahoma as soon as my youngest brother Gregory gets home for his break in his tour in Iraq, can’t wait to see every one!

On to food ❤

Before we left Oklahoma, my mom introduced me to the site Happy Herbivore. She is a fat free vegan, and has lots of interesting and yummy recipes on her website for free, and she also has a cook book and a second is in the works! The first thing of hers I tried was her chickpea tacos. I have made one or two alterations to this new staple in our house, but essentially it is just the same as hers.

The first time I made these Matt almost instantly requested a “Taco Tuesday” and with the exception of a few days when I had no access to a working oven, and or food processor, we have had these eeeevery Tuesday. Liam usually eats the filling with a little of the aoli and eats it off pieces of taco shell lol.

Chickpea Tacos

1 can chickpeas

1 T tamari

2 t lemon juice

• 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

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse and drain chickpeas, roll on paper towel to dry off. Mix together all the seasonings, lemon juice and tamari and toss the chickpeas in the sauce.  Lightly oil a cookie sheet and spread out. Bake for about 30 min stirring frequently until a little crunchy. The first time I made these, I served them just as she said, whole. Matt didnt like that very much and so we pureed some with a little bit of vegetable stock and made it more mushy. This is the tastiest way I think.

Takes around 1/4 cup of vegatable stock and scraping down the sides as needed to get it to this point.

I serve our tacos with diced onion, tomato,  a diced arugula, spinach mix, black bean salad, and a sriracha aeoli.

Black bean and corn salad

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, drained

1 can diced green chilies

1/2 white onion diced

1 roma tomato diced

2 T cilantro chopped

2 T red wine vinigar

1 /2 T agave

1 T lime juice

1 t cumin

1/8 t cayenne

salt and pepper

Mix all together! (nom as discretely as possible- I have been known to spoil my dinner on this while fixing everything else)

Fancy sriracha aeoli

2 T veganaise

1t lemon juice

1/2 t cumin

1 1/2 t cilantro chopped

1t sriacha

salt and pepper

mix well, put on everything …tacos…sammiches….

I eat my “taco” like this….every thing all chopped up in a salad with one taco shell smushed on it. nummy ❤

So, thats about how much effort I put into dinner 5 or 6 days a week. Some days…like yesterday… I can barely convince myself to cook an Amy’s cheese-less pizza, much less make a proper dinner.  So days like that inevitably end in frozen pizza, or this 🙂

Not too glamorous huh? Well, this is something that came to me from an old recipe. I used to make Black bean and sweet potato burritos, and this is essentially that, minus the tortilla, and the beans are a little different. I like to bake my sweet potatoes in a 425 degree oven for any where from 40 min – 1.5 hrs depending on how big the potato is. When the skin is crispy, and the potato can be pierced easily with a fork, it is done. I like to cook it a little longer than some because I like the caramelization that happens .. .sooooooo good.

Black beans ( I wrote down the recipie!)

I will rewrite it for those of you not fluent in chicken scratch ❤

Black Beans

1 can Black Beans

2 T soy sauce

1 T yellow mustard

1/8 t cayenne

1/2 t oregano

1t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1 t cumin

1 1/2 T lime juice

Put everything in a small sauce pot and allow to simmer for 15 – 20 min.

Put over nummy sweet potatoes top with diced white onions, chopped jalapenos and sriracha ❤

I’m off to play Zelda! Don’t be jealous of my ocarina!  One more random picture just cause it makes me smile ❤

This window is over my sink, I have ALWAYS wanted a window like that! ❤  Gnnight! Miss you all!