Taco Bar with Chicken, Beef, or Vegan

Vegan Tacos & All the Fixings Recipe

This is the perfect meal for Teagan, our grandson. Teagan, age 3, spent his morning helping Grandpa water the yard, harvest tomatoes, and playing ball with the dog. Oh, he had a bubble machine that was a lot of fun too! Teagan eats meat too, BTW!

After such hard work we were all ready for a tasty New Mexico lunch.

These are tasty vegan tacos with all the fixings and a light easy to make pico de gallo. I mention a specific brand below because if you are not use to working with vegan protein, I think that you will find this brand a great introduction.

Pico de Gallo Recipe & Information

Pico de gallo (pee-Ko day gaul-YO) meaning rooster’s beak is a fresh condiment. It is made from raw ingredients. Pico de gallo is often an ingredient added to guacamole, salad dressings, or cheese dips. It is also placed on all types of foods from egg dishes, meat dishes, and in this case, on vegan tacos. This is NOT a hot pico de gallo but a mild one meant to serve the palate of a 3 year old who says he doesn’t like to ‘burn my lips.’

Salsas (sauces) are often made from roasted or otherwise prepared ingredients. Salsas are heavier fare, in general.

Ingredients/Preparation:

Handful of garden fresh cherry tomatoes both red and yellow, sliced in two and mashed

4 T. chopped red sweet onion

4 T. prepared mild chilés (frozen/thawed or canned or fresh!) If using raw be sure to remove the seeds and inner membrane. I used frozen/thawed chilés.

4 T. chopped fresh cilantro leaves

2 small wedges of lime squeezed onto mixture

Salt to taste

Let rest while you make the tacos

Tacos

Tacos are traditionally bits of spiced savories like meats and fish wrapped in wheat or corn tortillas. The Conquistadores mentioned them in their journals and it is not clear why the Europeans called them tacos!

Tacos by any name are an indigenous food source. The hard shell taco seems most favored in the USA. However, I favor the soft shell taco. It is easier to eat and makes less of a mess, especially for a 3 year old.

They are easy to make. Home made tacos are much healthier than the salt, sugar, fat filled fast food tacos. They taste better too!

Recipe Ingredients:

¼ onion chopped

One package of the Trader Joe’s Vegan hamburger substitute (or other vegan protein)

4 T. of prepared chilé sauce (use canned or left-over enchilada sauce-see link)

5 T. of catsup (yep!)

Warmed soft tortillas

Recipe Preparation:

Cook the onions in a skillet with a bit of salt. The salt causes the onions to caramelize.

Add the vegan hamburger substitute and break the ‘meat’ a part, stir and cook

Add the chilé sauce and the catsup. The only reason I did not use all chilé sauce here was because the grandson doesn’t like things too hot. So, of course, I cooked to please him!

This meal was prepared for our little star, Teagan. He liked his soft shelled vegan taco and did not know it was vegan! His mom helped him make the tacos but we got both a healthy protein and some garden vegetables in him. Oh, for dessert there were frozen all-juice bars.

Not to brag but isn’t he the cutest little Grandson that you ever did see?