Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Vegan Soft Tacos

WHEW! I just got back in from a good walk during lunch and I am worn out. We set out as soon as I got finished eating so I didn't have too much time to digest anything. I just wolfed down my lunch and then drank a bunch of water and then took off walking. That's kinda' rough on a person. Perhaps I should have walked first. Lesson learned. I've got a few minutes left here to do my blog entry, so here we go...

Today for lunch, I brought all of the fixin's needed to make a couple of delicious Vegan Soft Tacos. I just packed a couple of small flour tortillas (80 calories each) there in the lunchbox lid and then to fill them I've got some Fantastic Foods Taco "Meat". This stuff is just made from TVP and spices, so it's vegan and very delicious, in my opinion. Plus, there's practically no fat in it. The directions call for adding a couple of Tbsp. of oil when you cook it, but I never do that. I've also got some Baby Spinach leaves and some Diced Tomato. And I've actually got some Taco Sauce at work, so I didn't need to worry about packing any of that.

The main star of the show today, however, are the Refried Black Beans. These are from a recipe from the Test Kitchen of Joanna (aka joannalovesyou over on the Post Punk Kitchen). She's currently in the process of writing a great new vegan cookbook and I was lucky enough to get in on the recipe testing.

I've seen lots of pics from other people who have been testing her recipes and they have all looked delicious and her food has received rave reviews. I don't think I've ever seen anyone say anything other than that they absolutely love her food. This recipe was no exception. It's the first recipe of hers that I have tried from the Test Kitchen and all I can say is WOW! This will be THE side dish that I fix to go with Mexican style meals from now on. I just made a single batch last night, but while a friend and I were sitting there eating it, we were both already wishing that I had made a double or triple size batch. I could just live on this stuff, it is so yummy.

I believe that her cookbook is supposed to come out sometime around June. I'm sure you'll see me try lots more of her test recipes here in the months to come, and I will definitely be singing the praises of the cookbook when it comes out. If just the dang side dishes are this good, well then, LOOK OUT! It should be great!

So that was my lunch for Tuesday. There was plenty here to make a couple of good size Soft Tacos. I didn't want to bring more than two tortillas since I am trying to watch the calories & carbs. There was actually a little bit of everything left over, so I just dumped it all into one container and stirred it up and finished it off.

I was kinda' wondering if I should've squeezed in a dessert, but now, after my walk, I now know that NO I didn't need any kind of dessert. I am FULL.

The blog post may be a little late tomorrow because everyone at work (including me) is going out for lunch to celebrate the retirement of a coworker. I'll take my camera though and document me using my vegan superpowers to eat out. There will be a blog post up about it as soon as I can get it online.

Well, I guess it's time to get back to work.

Thanks for coming by today and I'll see everybody tomorrow!
SMALL FLOUR TORTILLASSPINACHJOANNA'S REFRIED BLACK BEANSDICED TOMATOESVEGAN TACO MEATFORK & SPOON

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think I've had tacos since I adopted veganism. Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

I love black beans and tacos. I am going to try this recipe. Your lunch looks great today. I know what I am having for dinner tonight!!! JD

Chris said...

That looks great. I love tacos. My SIL gets me huge amounts of TVP in Mexico for very cheap. I like to mix a cup of TVP with a cup of water and a can or chopped tomatoes and hot taco seasoning. It is pretty good, I prefer the MSF crumbles though, but they are so expensive.

Do you count WW points? Just curious of what the point value is of your lunches.

kennyboy said...

Hey chris.

Whenever I did WW before, I used the WW Online and paid for the subscription. It was the only way I could keep myself honest and accountable.

This time though, I am using this blog to keep me motivated & accountable.

I'm not really adding up all of the points in every meal this time around. I'm kinda' just catching myself before I eat something not-so-good for weight loss and reminding myself of the points.

Like the other day when I started to stick a homemade roll in my lunch, I reminded myself that rolls are usually something like 4 points. So I was like, "Well, you could have this roll for 4 points or you could put some veggies in and not eat all those points".

So that's all I'm really doing right now, and it seems to be working.

Once I get into that 1-2 pound a week phase, and if I (GOD FORBID!) plateau, then I guess I will need to calculate every single point.

Right now though, I'm just kinda' winging it since I was eating so unhealthy before.