Veggie Tacos with Walnut Meat

I think I mentioned a while back that I was trying to eat 90% vegan these days. I don't want to wear any food label, but my goal is to eat a plant based whole foods diet (without it being complicated). I actually haven't eaten meat in a couple of weeks and I feel just fine. I do want to make sure I'm getting plenty of protein though! I made these veggie tacos for Sam and me on monday night. No styled shoot, just cookin' dinner and snapped some photos in hopes that you may want to try this!

I am very happy to report that Sam cleaned his plate (pats back). This recipe can be made ahead of time because there are a few steps but I did manage to pull it off in one swoop. I also made a terrific mess because I don't know how to clean as I go. Click below to get the step by step:

Veggie Tacos with Walnut Meat

serves 2-4

You will need:

- bib lettuce for "shells"

- cilantro

- flat leaf parsley

- one lemon

- a red pepper

- 1 cup raw walnuts

- olive oil

- red pepper flakes

- taco seasoning (we like this recipe)

- head of cauliflower

- avocado

- cherry tomatoes or salsa or both 

- salt and pepper

Begin by preheating the oven to 400. Chop cauliflower and put on a baking sheet with evoo and s and p. Bake until golden brown (about 15-20 min).

While the cauliflower was cooking I made the walnut meat which is based on this recipe, I just tweaked it a little bit.

Walnut Meat:

Take one cup of walnuts

1 T evoo

a sprinkle of taco seasoning 

a splash of coconut aminos 

Place all ingredients and pulse in a food processor or vitamix. If using a vitamix, I placed seasoning in blender and dropped in walnuts slowly from the top. Do not over blend.

Place in a bowl. I then whipped up a chimichurri sauce (my fave!) based on this recipe.

Chimichurri Sauce:

1 shallot

3 cloves garlic

bunch of cilantro

bunch of parsley

s and p

glub glub glub of evoo (precise, right?)

juice of half a lemon

red pepper flakes

Started by chopping the shallot and garlic in vitamix, then added oil and spices. Added herbs last and blitzed until smooth. 

Cauliflower Rice:

one head of cauliflower

s and p

evoo

Remove cauliflower from oven and let cool. Drop in cauliflower from top of blender and pulse until you get a "rice like" texture. You can also do this in a food processor.

Now you have everything you need to build the tacos. I used lots of raw, fresh veggies and two each was plenty filling. Tons of flavor! Hope you like them!twitter/ facebook/ pinterest/ instagram/ bloglovin'