Taco Tuesday

I was driving home from the gym today, thinking about what to make for dinner. I was toying with the idea of making a batch of lentil salad to eat the rest of the week, but I was also feeling kind of lazy. Even too lazy to boil lentils and chop up onions! Suddenly, the idea of TACOS popped into my head. They would require slightly more work than lentil salad, but I could not stop thinking about them now. Taco Tuesday it was!

Now I try not to buy/eat a lot of processed or pre-made vegan products. But sometimes they are on a really good sale, and I do enjoy trying out new products. Also, these items aided me in whipping up some badass tacos in record time.

On the top left corner is Daiya vegan cheese. I've been a vegan for going on 3 years, and I honestly do not even care about cheese anymore. But there is something about the melty goodness of Daiya that keeps me buying a bag every couple of months. Only when it is on sale, because it can run upwards of $5 a bag. If it hits $3 or less, I buy a bag and toss it in the freezer, where it keeps indefinitely.

On the top right corner is some Westsoy chicken-style seitan. I usually avoid gluten-heavy items like this, but it was also on a good sale and I was very curious to try it. My mom buys Westsoy's tofu almost exclusively and I must admit that it is very good. So I figured I would give this seitan product a try. It wasn't what I expected.

I guess the last fake chicken type product I bought was Gardein, which is pretty creepy close to the real thing. This was pretty much just plain seitan. I prepared it by sauteing it with some minced garlic and a buttload of my homemade taco seasoning. Then it wasn't bad. It was going to be covered in other forms of taco-themed goodness anyway.

The other products that helped make my tacos possible where Toffuti's Sour Supreme and Food For Life's Sprouted Corn Tortillas. Sour Supreme is a staple in my fridge. It lasts forever and I love it stirred into soups, chilis, and stroganofs. Obviously, it's also great Mexican food. I had never tried Food For Life's corn tortillas, but I have never had a product of theirs that I was not absolutely crazy about.

To assemble my tacos, I first melted some Daiya on a couple of tortillas, then added the seitan.

I then proceeded to go crazy and top these suckers with sour cream, chopped onions and tomatoes, green olives, pumpkin seeds, salsa verde (Pace brand), and a squeeze of lime.

I dried not to dwell on the fact that I really wish I had some cilantro for these, and genuinely enjoyed the hell out of them! I have been going through a "put green olives on everything" phase, and they added a nice tang along with the salsa verde and lime juice. The pumpkin seeds added a nice textural contrast as well. Now that I am typing this up, I just remembered that I totally forgot to add hot sauce!! Good thing I have enough leftovers for at least 2 more meals.