Taco Salad with Walnut & Cauliflower "Meat" Crumbles

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This taco salad tastes just like a restaurant style take out treat, but it's made with minimally processed plant based ingredients so you can feel even better about making it an everyday kind of meal that will keep you feeling happy and healthy.  

I first tried a vegan taco salad made with raw walnut meat at a local raw vegan cafe near by and it completely blew my mind. The flavored walnut crumbles reminded me of the fast food tacos from my childhood, with all the right spices and the perfect crumbly texture.

While it was super delicious, it was also covered in oil and contained way more walnuts in a single serving than I would normally consume, and my skin was not happy about it. Since that version was a little too nut heavy for me, I set out to create my own more vegetable-based recipe using riced cauliflower and a moderate amount of walnuts and it turned out to be just as good!

I didn't feel like using my food processor this time, so I chose to use thawed frozen riced cauliflower and I quickly chopped the walnuts by hand. Then I mixed them together in a bowl with some spices and tamari. 

If you are working with whole fresh cauliflower then all you'll need to do it chop it into florets then add it into the food processor and pulse a few times until crumbly, then place in a bowl. Next add the walnuts to the food processor and pulse a few times before adding them to the same bowl, then stir in the tamari and spices.

Spread this mixture out in a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes then give it a stir and bake for another 10 minutes until lightly golden brown. 

To make this taco salad, I started with a bed of chopped spring mix, but any kind of lettuce or tender greens will work. Then on top of that I added guacamole, my roasted corn salsa, shredded purple cabbage, the walnut cauliflower crumbles, a drizzle of cashew sour cream and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. It's the perfect zesty summer salad!

This taco meat replacement is also amazing in actual tacos. in grain bowls with rice or quinoa, added to tomato sauces to make a meaty bolognese sauce, in wraps, or pile it in a big lettuce or cabbage leaf instead of a taco shell- the possibilities are endless!

What are some of your favorite summer salad recipes? If you try out this recipe I'd love to hear what you think of it! 

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Walnut & Cauliflower Taco Filling

Tempeh Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Wrap [Vegan BLT]

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This marinated tempeh & veggie wrap has been one of my favorite quick lunch recipes all week. Ever since getting the hang of preparing tempeh, I've been all about adding it to wraps, sandwiches, salads, and stir-frys. 

The trick with cooking tempeh is either steaming it or water-frying for about 8-10 minutes before marinating it. This removes any bitter fermented flavors from the tempeh and allows it to easily take on the flavors of the marinade. 

There are so many different ways to marinate and prepare tempeh, but for tempeh in a wrap I like to stick with a simple marinade consisting of coconut aminos (or tamari) maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I also use just a bit of liquid smoke for a different flavor, but it's not entirely necessary and can be omitted. 

The longer you allow the tempeh to marinate (up to 24 hours), the better the flavor will be, but I'm one of those people who never remembers to plan ahead and I usually decide to cook something on a whim, which means often I manage to only marinate the tempeh for anywhere between 15-30 minutes, and it still takes on plenty of flavor in that amount of time.

Once the tempeh has marinated, you can either bake it in the oven or fry it in a pan on the stovetop for a few minutes on each side. I usually go with the baking option so I can cook all of the pieces at the same time. 

The firm and crispy texture of the tempeh makes it fantastic as a bacon substitute in this BLT style wrap. The marinade is just the right balance of salty, tangy and sweet and makes the tempeh taste savory and delicious. 

I used a spring mix lettuce blend, fresh tomatoes, green onions, avocado with lime juice, and I added shredded carrots for some extra crunch, though finely chopped purple cabbage would well work in place of the carrots too. 

I find that when making a wrap it's important to use a spread of some sort because it helps to hold the wrap together when you're rolling it all up. There are a few different options for the spread to use in this wrap.

This week I've been going back and forth between using this homemade green olive hummus and this homemade pumpkin seed pesto sauce. They are both easy to whip up in the blender in about 5 minutes, but for more classic BLT and less preparation, use a vegan mayo spread.

Let me know if you try this out, I'd love to hear what you think of the recipe!

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Tempeh Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Wrap (vegan Blt!)

Crispy Chickpea Salad with Creamy Caesar Dressing [Vegan, Oil-Free]

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This colorful salad with roasted chickpeas and creamy caesar dressing is the perfect way to start off the new year feeling nourished and glowing from the inside out. 

The chickpeas are seasoned with a cheesy onion flavor that makes them taste like croutons. The spice paste, which makes the flavors fully coat the chickpeas, is made with the liquid from the can of chickpeas rather than oil. This makes for a much healthier option which still packs a ton of flavor. I've adapted this brilliant chickpea roasting method from this recipe by A Virtual Vegan. These chickpea croutons are perfect in a salad but they also make a great snack to enjoy on their own!

The dressing is super simple and requires no blending! It takes only 5 minutes to prepare and tastes so creamy and delicious. It's similar to a creamy caesar dressing; tangy, thick, and salty, but made almost entirely with unrefined whole food ingredients. 

Store bought dressings are made to sit on a shelf for months so they are often filled with questionable preservatives and processed oils. To pour one of these dressings over an otherwise nutrient-packed healthy bowl of fresh vegetables would undo a lot of the health benefits of eating a salad in the first place. Now that I've learned how to make my own dressings, I can't imagine ever going back to store-bought, especially when they are this easy to make!

Feel free to choose any of your favorite crunchy veggies for this salad. My go-to salad ingredients lately tend to be romaine lettuce, purple cabbage, carrots, radish, and green onions or scallions. I love adding avocado to this salad bowl, but if you don't have any it's perfectly delicious without it too. 

This is a great recipe to meal prep for a week of healthy salads. Double the batch of crispy chickpeas and allow them to sit inside the oven while it cools to make them stay extra crispy for longer. Then store them in a glass jar and add them to salads and whole grain bowls all week. Make sure to make an extra large batch of the creamy dressing too! 

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Crispy Chickpea Caesar Salad

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Maple Ginger Roasted Kuri Squash Salad Bowl

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If you've never tried squash in a salad before, you're in for a treat! Winter squash are in season right now so I've been adding them into everything I can think of. Having roasted squash in a salad might sound a little strange, but the maple ginger glaze gives the squash a wonderful flavor that's perfectly suited for a salad topping. 

Something about the leaves being bright golden-yellow right now makes me want to try all of the beautiful squash varieties that keep popping up at our grocery store even more. 

Behold, the kuri squash. It's a lot like a pumpkin but without the ridges and shaped more like a little tear drop. Like some pumpkin varieties, you can actually eat the skin, which makes preparing this squash a whole lot easier. 

I've never particularly enjoyed the dangerous task of slicing into a whole rock hard squash, so I like to give it a good wash then roast it whole for 20 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit before even attempting to get a knife in there. This softens the squash enough that it makes it super easy and much more safe to slice. 

Once you have your squash sliced in half, scoop out the seeds then cut into little half moons. 

In a large bowl, make the maple ginger glaze by grating about a tablespoon and half of fresh ginger and mixing it with a bit of maple syrup and some herbs. We won't be using the whole squash for this recipe, so pick out 6-7 pieces to use in the salad and put the rest away for another recipe. 

Dip the squash one piece at a time into the maple ginger glaze until well coated, then place on a silpat or parchment paper lined baking tray. 

Roast your sliced and marinated squash slices at 400 degrees until they start to turn golden brown around the edges and fully soften, about 20-25 minutes. 

These squash slices are tasty enough to eat on their own, but I love having them in a salad with a creamy dressing. 

In every salad I make I always try to include plenty of whole food starches. Salads with only watery low-carb vegetables are not satisfying at all and you'll be hungry again an hour later. The key to a good salad is always having at least one starchy vegetable, such as squash or potatoes, and always include a bean or legume of some type, such as chickpeas. Whole grains are also a great option to add in if you have time to cook them or have some leftovers, but for this salad I found that the squash and the chickpeas added just the right amount of starchy filling ingredients, so I left the grains out of this one. 

I made a very simple dressing from raw cashew butter, lemon juice, and more maple syrup. I ripped up the roasted ginger glazed squash into bite size pieces and tossed it with some fresh romaine lettuce, purple cabbage, carrots, green onions, and chickpeas. The result was this super creamy and delicious lunch bowl. 

I hope you find a beautiful kuri squash and try out this autumn recipe! Other squashes like pumpkin or kabocha may also work, but I haven't tested them out yet and cooking times may vary. Full recipe below!

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Maple Ginger Roasted Kuri Squash Salad