Taco Quesadillas

I’m not entirely sure if “Taco Quesadilla” is really a thing, but it was delicious and that’s really all that matters, right? They’re full of everything you’d put into a taco: crispy lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsa and your favorite vegan mock meat. The bonus is that you get to use A LOT MORE CHEESE than you would in a taco. I used a whole wheat tortilla though, so the calories don’t count.

On an entirely unrelated note, I seem to be reliving my childhood through my cooking. By that I mean I keep making dishes that seem like something your child might respond with when asked what she wants for dinner. Beanie Weenies! Breakfast Pizza! Taco Quesadillas!

I’m not saying I see a problem with this, but I do realize that I’ll need to come up with something a bit more elegant before my next dinner party, ha ha.

(I might still stick with a Mexican food theme though, so that I can keep using these glasses!)

True story: I bought those in Tijuana in 1999(!!) on a little jaunt with my roomies-at-the-time, Randy and Theron. In the past 14 years they’ve survived many moves:

From San Diego to LA apt #1
From LA apt #1 to LA apt #2
From LA back to San Diego apt #1
From San Diego apt #1 to San Diego apt #2
From San Diego apt #2 to San Diego condo
From San Diego to Colorado Springs house #1
From Colorado Springs house #1 to house #2
From Colorado Springs house #2 to Denver storage unit
From storage unit to current Denver abode
(coming soon… from current abode to TBD abode!)

That’s a lot crazier than it looks. Well, maybe it’s just as crazy as it looks. I moved to SD from NH to try something new, then to LA because it seemed like more fun. Then back to SD for grad school. The building manager at my first apartment was a stalker (honestly! she stalked me! she went into my apartment when I wasn’t home and then would make creepy comments to me about things inside that she couldn’t have seen otherwise!) so I moved in with my friend Tawnia, then into a condo my mom had bought for my little brother to live in (I was a squatter, haha!). I guess the rest is pretty unremarkable (other than the fact that a college educated woman who always votes ‘D’ chose to move to Colorado Springs!?), and no, I don’t know about my next move yet. I just know it’ll be this summer.

My point was (I think), isn’t it amazing those glasses have survived all those moves? One is chipped on the bottom, but that’s it. Impressive packing skills, amirite?

And that salsa? Deelish! The next person I get paired up with in the vegan food swap is getting some Pueblo Chile Salsa I think!

Taco Quesadillas (makes 2 quesadillas)

I used Lightlife smart ground “mexican” in these, but you can use any sort of crumbled vegan meat alternative, or even just slightly mashed beans!

Ingredients:

4 whole wheat tortillas
1/2 cup of your favorite vegan crumbled meat substitute
1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
Vegan mozzarella shreds (I used Daiya in these)
1/2 cup chopped lettuce
1 tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced
Salsa

Directions:

Heat your crumbles or beans in a pan with the taco seasoning and a little bit of water, until it’s heated and seasoned through. Set aside.
Place two tortillas in the pan (over medium) and top with half the cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, crumbles and a bit of salsa, then the rest of the cheese.
Cover the pan and reduce heat to low and let sit until the cheese starts to melt. Top with the remaining tortillas and flip. Leave in for another 2-3 minutes or until your tortillas start to crisp and the cheese is melted. Serve immediately with sour cream or guacamole!

Enjoy!

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Smokey Kale and Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole

Whew, that’s a mouthful to say!

If this sounds familiar, it should: it’s a variation of my Layered Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole from last May. They’re both very similar, only this one has both kale and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, so it’s spiiicccyyy. And smoky. And really hearty with all those potatoes and tortillas- kind of perfect for the cold snowy month of March.

Smokey Kale and Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole (8 hearty servings)

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale, washed, destemmed and torn
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
3 medium sweet potatoes (about 2.5 cups smashed)
2-3 chipotles in adobo sauce, plus about 1 Tablespoon of the sauce, diced
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz can rotel with green chilies, drained (if you want the dish a little less spicy, get the mild with no chilies)
1 cup sweet corn kernels, thawed or drained
1/2 cup taco sauce (medium or hot, your call) plus a couple of Tablespoons
Juice and zest of 2 limes
Sea salt
12-14 taco or fajita sized flour tortillas, all sliced in half
1.5 cups salsa (again, you pick the heat)
Daiya mozzarella for topping

Directions:

Water sautee the kale with the powdered garlic until tender, then set aside.
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes, then boil until tender.
In a large bowl, combine the beans, rotel, corn and taco sauce, mixing well.
When the potatoes are cooked, mash them and add lime juice, sea salt, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce and set aside.
Drizzle the bottom of a 9×13 casserole or baking dish with 2-3 T taco sauce, making sure the entire bottom is covered. Arrange tortilla halves across the bottom.
Cover the tortillas with half of the sweet potato mixture, gently spreading to get maximum coverage. Next, add a layer of the kale followed by a layer of the bean/corn mix (half of what you have), followed by another layer of tortillas.
Repeat once, ending with a layer of tortillas (this makes 3 layers of tortillas, 2 of everything else), then cover with salsa and cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 5-8 until the cheese is fully melted.

Enjoy!

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Green Chile-Chickpea Tacos

Vegan Green Chile-Chickpea Tacos

The Chickpea Tacos are a recipe from the Happy Herbivore- although I did make some small adjustments. The biggest change is that I didn’t bake the beans to make them crispy. I figured since I was serving them in crispy taco shells that I might enjoy them more if they were still soft.

The other adjustment? Why, I added some Hatch Green Chilies, of course!

So, basically just do this:

Take the HH recipe, and instead of baking the chickpeas just heat them in a pot with all the same ingredients, plus 2 green smallish chilies (roasted, cleaned and diced). If you’re using canned chilies, use about 1/4 cup.

Easy, eh?

I served mine with some mexi-rice (which was good… gotta share that recipe!) and a small side salad. A very healthy, low-cal meal!

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Enchilada Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Soy Curls

In case you guys haven’t noticed, I’m back to my original posting schedule of Monday-Wednesday-Friday and am pretty darn proud of myself. Even before I moved I had downsized to just twice a week, and then there was that loooong dry spell of which we wont speak. Oops, I just spoke of it!

Maybe I should just stay on topic, with the topic being: “Mexican food and how tortillas have too many calories“. I love Mexican food and when I eat it I want to eat a lot of it, so when tortillas are involved I’ll end up having a couple of those as well… and those suckers can really add up. I’m not a crazy calorie-counter by any means, but I try to pay attention.

Anyhoozle, I was craving some delicious Mexican flavors last week (even after I scarfed down those roasted poblano peppers) and decided I needed something a little bit different, so I went the stuffed-pepper route. Admittedly there’s nothing new or particularly exciting about stuffed peppers, or even enchilada stuffed peppers. But who cares? Mine have quinoa and soy curls and black beans and they’re just darn delicious!

Enchilada Stuffed Peppers with Soy Curls and Quinoa (makes 6 half peppers)

Note: If you don’t have soy curls, you could use seitan or add some other beans in there… Chickpeas would be good!

Ingredients:

1 cup soy curls
3 medium/large bell peppers, any color you like
1 cup quinoa, cooked
2-3 Tablespoons lime juice
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 sweet onion, diced
2.5 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon (or more!) sea salt, plus black pepper to taste
Palm full dried cilantro
14oz can red enchilada sauce, halved
1/2 cup (ish) Daiya (I used mozzarella but pepper jack would be fun too)

Directions:

Place the soy curls in a bowl full of warm water to soak for 10 minutes, then squeeze out excess liquid.
Slice your peppers in half, cleaning out the ribs and seeds, then set in the baking dish open side facing up.
Mix together soy curls, quinoa, black beans, lime juice, onions, cumin, garlic powder, S&P, cilantro and about half the enchilada sauce.
Stuff the peppers, then top with the remaining enchilada sauce (1-2 Tablespoons each) and the Daiya.
Bake at 375 for about 35-40 minutes. You want the peppers to have softened and the cheese to be super melted.

Enjoy!

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Roasted Poblano Peppers

Vegan Roasted Poblano Peppers

These Vegan Roasted Poblano Peppers are ridiculously easy to make and beyond delicious. And just a little bit spicy. These are a few of my favorite things…

They make a great side or appetizer when you’re serving Mexican food… you could even cut them into bite-size niblets and arrange on fancy toothpicks for a cocktail party! Serve with margaritas, and call it a night.

Best part? Only 3 ingredients. Poblano peppers, Daiya cheese, and Cholula hot sauce. I actually enjoyed mine with a bit of sour cream, but that’s totally optional.

Roasted Poblano Peppers (makes 4 pieces/side servings)

You really only need a few pinches of Daiya on each piece, and as for the hot sauce it depends on how hot you like it. Just remember the peppers have a bit of heat to begin with! If you find yours too hot, a bit of vegan sour cream cools it down nicely.

Ingredients:

2 medium/large poblano peppers
Daiya shreds in your flavor of choice
Hot sauce (I recommend Cholula or Sriracha)
Sour cream, if desired

Directions:

Cut the peppers lengthwise in half, remove the ribs and seeds and rinse well. (And whatever you do, do not touch your eyes!)
Broil just until blackened, then rinse again- this time rubbing the burnt skin off.
Sprinkle with Daiya and hot sauce to taste, then broil for 2-3 minutes on a cookie sheet until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Taco Pasta

Taco Pasta is perfect for those busy weeknights when you just don’t know what to make for dinner. The ingredients are likely already in your pantry and fridge- and if they’re not, you can make all sorts of substitutions with this dish!

What has me so busy that I’m focusing on quick n’ easy dishes these days? PACKING! I hate to complain because I know a lot of people have it worse than I do, but my life is a bit upside-down right now. <big sigh>

But hey, at least I have some time for blogging, right? This is actually kind of funny: I was updating my recipes page yesterday and realized I only have 2 recipes for salads. Does that make me a really bad vegan?

Oh, and a little bit of housekeeping. Because Annie made it cool, I went ahead and had my Twitter account hacked, but all is back to normal so you should definitely go ahead and follow me. That’s all I got- I’m off to spend my long holiday weekend packing! UPDATED: And a little MORE housekeeping: I was just alerted to the fact that comments were disabled on this post. They’re also disabled on my Garlicky Pepper Tofu post. I didn’t do this on purpose, and future posts will absolutely have them turned back on. I’m glad someone told me… I was wondering why no one gave me any love on my tofu!

Taco Pasta (makes 5-6 servings)

Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything (non-vegan/vegetarian)

Ingredients:

10 ounces dried pasta (I used rotini), cooked per package instructions
1 small vidalia onion, chopped
1.5 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 can RoTel (the kind w/ diced chiles!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon chili powder (more to taste)
4 ounces vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
1/3 cup Daiya cheddar shreds
3 Tablespoons dried cilantro
S&P

Directions:

Water saute the onion and garlic until the onion softens just a little bit. You still want it to add some crunch to your dish! Stir in the RoTel and beans, taco seasoning and chili powder and let simmer until heated through, 4-5 minutes.

Add the pasta, then stir in the Daiya, cream cheese and sour cream. Keep stirring (over medium heat) until it’s all nice and creamy, then do a taste-check. Now’s the time to add S&P and maybe some more chili powder. Add the cilantro and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Mexican Cabbage with Sriracha-Agave Tofu

Can you guys believe it’s October? Sadly I wont be participating in MoFo, but can’t wait to read all the great posts from my fellow bloggers!

Have you guys tried Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Cabbage? I love, love, love this dish. It’s simple, filling and low fat… and really low calorie too! I make it a few times a year, in all kinds of weather, but when the temps start to drop I want a slightly heartier version- and that’s where my Sriracha-Agave Tofu comes in!

Mexican Cabbage with Sriracha-Agave Tofu (makes 2 servings)

Ingredients:

1 batch of Mexican Cabbage (I skipped the chips but added some extra chili powder)
1/2 batch of Sriracha-Agave Tofu, chopped

Directions:

Get your tofu in the oven, then prepare the Mexican Cabbage. As soon as the tofu is done, chop it up and mix into the cabbage. Easy Peasy!

Enjoy!

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Hot Weather Recipes: Grilled Caprese Quesadillas

Grilled Caprese Quesadillas

I haven’t felt much like cooking lately… or writing. Or even reading other blogs. I just feel kind of blah. Maybe I need a vacation? Anyway, in keeping with my lazy theme, I have a simple, grilled quesadilla for you today. I was craving something gooey and cheesy, and these seemed like the perfect way to use some of the basil and tomatoes that are all growing so well now that it’s no longer a billion degrees outside! (It’s still warm enough, though, that I’d prefer not to use my oven if I don’t absolutely have to!)

As with all grilled quesadillas, fresh tortillas work best! Once they’re a little stale they tend to get a bit too crispy/hard when you grill them.

Grilled Caprese Quesadillas (Makes 2 quesadillas)

Ingredients:

4 medium tortillas
Daiya mozzarella cheese
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
15-20 fresh basil leaves

Directions:

Heat your grill to medium.
Sprinkle some daiya onto two of the tortillas, then layer tomatoes, basil, and some more cheese. Top with other tortilla and place on the grill. Slide it around a bit so it doesn’t stick, then cover and leave on for about 4-5 minutes on each side.

Enjoy!

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Hot Weather Recipes: Grilled Cranberry-Pistachio Quesadillas

Vegan Grilled Cranberry Pistachio Quesadilla

Grilled Cranberry Pistachio Quesadillas

Yah. You read that right. I put cranberries, pistachios and some Diaya Jack cheese together in a quesadilla.

And then I grilled it.

And then I ate more of them than I care to admit. But I’m not sorry, because they were really, really good. You know that taste explosion you get when you mix salty, sweet and rich together? This was that, times a gajillion. Truly, the salty nuts, sweet (dried) cranberries and rich gooooey jack cheese are the perfect combination, expected or not.

The second best part about these is that I made them on the grill. Look at those grill marks!

My only regret is that I didn’t think these up myself. If I had, I’d be taking out ad time just to let the world know that I am, in fact, a genius. Sadly (for me), that honor goes to Andrea Chesman who wrote The New Vegetarian Grill. My hat’s off to you, Andrea!

Maybe I get points for veganizing it, though?

Grilled Cranberry-Pistachio Quesadillas (Makes 2 quesadillas)

Ingredients:

4 large tortillas (I used burrito-sized)
6 ounces Daiya jack cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped salted pistachios

Directions:

Schmear approximately 1.5 ounces of cheese on one side each of two tortillas, then sprinkle with the dried cranberries and pistachios. Schmear the rest of the cheese on one side each of the remaining tortillas, and press together.
Grill over medium/medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, then flip. Leave on for another 5 minutes, then cut and serve. When you first put the quesadillas on the grill, shift them around a bit so they don’t stick (you can also use non-stick spray, but I haven’t needed it).

Enjoy!

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Hot Weather Recipes: Grilled Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas

Continuing with my Hot Weather Recipe ideas (meals that require no cooking, or can be prepared on the grill), I present to you: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas! (if your grill doesn’t have a burner, you’ll have to boil the potatoes inside or microwave them, in which case I recommend a new grill, ha ha)

To answer your most important question first, YES there is cheese in there- Daiya Jack to be precise, but the creamy sweet potatoes allow you to cut back a little on the ~~calories~~ cheese if you’re so inclined (I was). Plus, it leaves you with more leftover Jack for Cheese n’ Crackers!

On a completely unrelated note, Jason and I went to a potluck dinner party last night hosted by our neighbors. These particular neighbors are kind, wonderful people who also happen to have owned one of the largest cattle ranches in Colorado (and if you know anything at all about cattle ranching in Colorado, that means it was really big), so needless to say they’re very big on meat. As in, when you’re invited to a BBQ at their house you can pretty much count on being served hamburgers and maybe chips and that’s about it. I was already vegetarian when we met them, so I’ve never partaken but I have gone home hungry, which is sad. The other thing I’ve never done is tell them that I’m vegan. It hasn’t come up and I already know we’re not going to agree on anything to do with food politics or animal-agribusiness, so I’d prefer to just avoid it. I swear it has nothing to do with the fact that I’d be completely outnumbered

But I digress. This was the first time it was actually a potluck, and I was excited to know that I’d have more than chips and a few stray pickles to eat, yay! Someone made a wonderful salad with walnuts and strawberries which I gorged on, and I brought my Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese and Agave-Sriracha Grilled Sweet Potatoes (recipe to follow, I promise).

Not to toot my own horn, but everyone LOVED both, especially the m-n-c! I saw people going back for seconds and thirds, including the woman seated next to me, so I whispered to her that I had made it and it was vegan, and she couldn’t believe it. When she went back for just a little bit more after knowing it was vegan made me love her a little bit. Shortly after that I got up to talk to someone, and by the time I came back she had told the whole table that it was vegan, and everyone was completely surprised. They were calling it “Macaroni and no cheese”, which I thought was cute. And they kept eating it!

The moral of the story? If you’re not sure what to serve to a room full of cattle ranchers and other omnivores, give my Butternut Mac n’ Cheese a try. They wont know it’s vegan, and even if you choose to tell them it is, they’ll love it anyway!

Grilled Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas (Makes 2 quesadillas)

These measurements are really just guidelines- you can change up the proportions to suit your own palate! ETA: When smashing the sweet potatoes, it doesn’t have to be perfect, just get most of the lumps out!

Ingredients:

4 medium tortillas
3 ounces Daiya jack cheese
1 heaping cup smashed sweet potato
1/2 cup black beans
Sour cream and salsa, if desired

Directions:

Using a butter knife or back of a spoon, schmear the cheese around on top of the 4 tortillas.
Cover 2 of the tortillas with a mixture of the beans and sweet potatoes, then top with the remaining tortillas, cheese side down.
Place the quesadillas on a grill heated to medium-low, making sure to move them around a bit for the first 10-15 seconds so they don’t start to stick. Leave still for about 5 minutes, then flip. Grill for another 5 minutes, then remove, cut, and serve with sour cream and salsa if desired.

Enjoy!

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That Was Vegan?

Recipes so delicious you'll never think twice!

Category Archives: Mexican

Taco Quesadillas

Smokey Kale and Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole

Green Chile-Chickpea Tacos

Enchilada Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Soy Curls

Roasted Poblano Peppers

Taco Pasta

Mexican Cabbage with Sriracha-Agave Tofu

Hot Weather Recipes: Grilled Caprese Quesadillas

Hot Weather Recipes: Grilled Cranberry-Pistachio Quesadillas

Hot Weather Recipes: Grilled Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas