Middle Eastern Cauliflower and Hummus Tacos with a Tahini-Cumin Dressing

It is much more obvious in these photos that I like to overstuff my wraps.

With so many different parts, I wouldn’t want each bite to miss out.

Quick & Easy Salsa Chickpea Tacos

Did you know that Trader Joe’s is not in Canada? The closest thing we have (well, those who live in Vancouver) is Pirate Joe’s. They temporarily renamed themselves Irate Joe’s as they were being sued by TJ’s. TJ’s lost but is continuing to appeal. In any case, we’re getting our fair use of TJ’s while still in Houston.

Sadly, though, it took me 10 months to locate their perfect salsa. Their chunky salsa is totally my favourite. Perfectly spiced with a robust tomato flavour, I love it. I also managed to go through a container in less than a week.  I started adding it to everything.

In fact, this is such an easy recipe, it is almost non-recipe. I envision this as the perfect travelling meal – mix and eat. Until then, it will have a happy place in my kitchen.

Mix some salsa with chickpeas and chopped bell pepper. Throw it overtop some shredded broccoli and carrots for more crunch on a taco shell, and you’ve got a meal.  I topped mine with a healthy dose of nutritional yeast which became creamy and gooey with the extra salsa. Totally not optional for those who love nooch.

I may go into salsa withdrawal. Can anyone recommend a good recipe? I cannot imagine it being hard to make. 😉

PS. I am sharing this with Souper Sundays and this month’s My Legume Love Affair hosted by Susan.

Tofu Migas with Arepas

I always thought it would be funny to have enough forethought to pre-plan my holiday meals months in advance. You know, Christmas food served at Thanksgiving; Valentine’s Day treats for Christmas; Cinco de Mayo eats on Easter.

OK, I made the last one up, but it totally happened anyways.

It turns out out Rob was a bit more lonely on Easter Sunday than me, and at the last minute, we decided to host Sunday for the ex-pats. Three Canadians and a Dutchman, all displaced in Houston temporarily.

Although, instead of stressing out about our meals, we shared our love for vegan Mexican food (with a South American twist). Our friends brought some Mexican bread pudding and other Mexican treats for dessert. Easter Houston-style.

Migas is a dish typically made with eggs, but we swapped it for crumbled tofu and added some spices and topped it with salsa and cilantro. The tortillas are usually scrambled into the mixture but I like to add them at the end to keep them crispy. Rob shared his Colombian delicacy of arepas.

There is something about the weekend that brings out the tofu scramble in us.

Are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo? Fellow bloggers, have you ever pre-planned your meals that far in advance? 😉

Cheezy Scrambled Egg Breakfast Tacos with a Creamy Mustard Sauce (Vegan, Soy-Free)

Rob and I have been on a quest. A mission to find corn tortillas. Corn tortillas so light and pliable, you easily could think they were flour tortillas.

I don’t know if it is just me, but I always think of hard, crunchy El Paso  taco shells when I hear corn tortillas. Nothing could be further from reality. We were treated to the fresh tortillas while in Mexico City and figured it was just a matter of research. They were bound to be found in Houston.

Because once you’ve tried them, you can’t go back.

I was not alone in my quest. The lovely folks on the Houston Chowhound boards already helped others satisfy their fresh corn tortilla needs. Our adventures to Mi Tienda proved to be a quick trip back to Mexico. They are a grocery store for all your Mexican needs, including corn tortillas. They are freshly made in-house and perfectly tender when consumed that same day. Since it is a bit far from home, we bought 80 tortillas. All for a whopping $2.

While we froze the majority of the tortillas, we have been enjoying tacos all times of the day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  No complaints from Rob. He LOVES tacos!

For our breakfast tacos, we were inspired by Dawn’s recipe to make “cheezy” scrambled eggs with chickpea flour and nutritional yeast. WeRob routinely makes Indian chickpea flour pancakes and tofu scramble, so this kind of married the two. It was a fun mess, too. We served it with spinach and topped it with a creamy, cheezy mustard sauce.

Corn tortillas – what do you think?

This is my submission to this month’s Bookmarked Recipes and this month’s Shop Local.

Black Bean Tostadas with Tangy Cabbage Salad

You know how bloggers tend to post holiday dishes before the actual holiday? Do you think they make the same dish for the real holiday? Or make something new?

Me: a little from column A and a little from column B. Cooking for me, column B the majority of the time. For guests, perhaps some from column A.

For Cinco de Mayo, I shared my Mexican Chili Salad Wraps the week before.  Rob celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a lovely corn and avocado salsa and oodles of other Mexican treats. No salad wraps. Except that was on May 4. On May 5, Rob and I actually went out for Thai food to celebrate a friend’s birthday (they actually had a few vegan options -youpee!).

But then, after seeing others share their Mexican eats, I had a craving for more Mexican. Post-Cinco.

Flipping through Bittman’s latest cookbook, VB6: Vegan Before 6:00 (good review of the cookbook here), I knew exactly what I was drawn to: black bean tacos with a tangy cabbage slaw. I had my mango “taco” wraps ready to go. I love all things “tangy” especially if it means lots of citrus juice (lime!). And well, beans, oh yes. I have used black beans in many Mexican dishes, but I was intrigued by Bittman’s suggestion to mash them, spice them (lots of garlic!), and then roast them.

It worked really well. While the beans crisped up in the oven, I made the beautiful cabbage slaw. It came together seamlessly. Call them tostadas with crispy flatbreads or roll them into tacos.  My mango wraps were crispy but if you let the beans sit on top of the wraps for a while, the wraps absorb some of the moistness and became pliable again. Because they were very thin, they were very delicate and made a big delicious mess. A beautiful delicious mess. I can’t remember the last time I bought red cabbage, but gosh, isn’t it gorgeous?

So, for all you seasoned bloggers and foodies out there, do you remake your pre-holiday dishes? Or try something new again? 🙂

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays and this week’s Weekend Wellness..