Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Ten Minute Tacos

Ingredients for taco filling

1/4 cup chopped onion (I use frozen chopped onion to save time)
1 TBS minced garlic (the pre-minced from a jar)
1 can black beans, drained (check ingredients*)
1 can chopped tomatoes (check ingredients) - you could chop fresh tomatoes for this as well
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 TBS cumin
2 TBS ground flaxseed (flaxmeal)
1/8th tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings for tacos
Brown rice
Fresh diced tomatoes
Guacomole or sliced avocados
Finely diced red onion
Olives (check ingredients)
Lettuce
Fresh cilantro
Hot sauce (if you like the extra spice - check ingredients)

Shells
You can use corn tortillas (check ingredients) or hard shell tacos (check ingredients)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a skillet.

Sautee the onions over medium heat until soft and translucent (3 minutes).

Add mushrooms and saute until soft (3 minutes).

Add garlic and saute until fragrant (10 seconds).

Add spices and stir (20 seconds).

Add black beans and tomatoes and cook until heated through (2 minutes).

Add flaxmeal and stir to combine (1 minute).

Your taco filling is done. You can let this simmer longer until you are ready to eat it, but add the flaxmeal right before you serve it as it acts like a thickener and if you leave it too long, it will get too pasty.

I dice my tomatoes and onions for garnish while this is cooking. I do use a pre-made guacamole, so that saves me time. These are especially good with brown rice, but that takes awhile to make. I usually make double batches of rice and then freeze portions to serve with meals like this. These are still good without the rice - in fact, M prefers them that way.

If you want to get fancy, you can fry your tortillas in just a bit of olive oil. This will add to your prep time and it's not necessary as you can just warm the tortillas in the microwave before filling them. But M really enjoys them when they are fried, so I usually do a few for him. Then they are more like fifteen minute tacos. We also like the hard shell corn tacos and those are even easier (just throw 'em in the oven on a baking sheet at 400 degrees while you are making the filling so they are warm).

*Every time I say check ingredients, you are looking for hidden sugars, wheat, dairy, soy, and gluten. If you can't pronounce an ingredient or wouldn't be able to buy it to stock in your pantry, then you don't want to use that brand.

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