Taco Tuesday Side Edition: Rice! (Vegan, or not)

It's been far too long since I have done a Taco Tuesday post, and for that I am deeply sorry! This Taco Tuesday, as the title states, is the side edition and includes two different types of rice. A few weeks ago I did a taco night with my church group, which is where this stemmed from. Taco night is a great way to have a communal meal if you're looking for an activity to plan a night around! Just about all of the items that come together for a taco night can be made stand alone. Some in charge of meat, someone shells/tortillas, someone else for veggies, someone else for salsa and guacamole, and someone in charge of margaritas (of course). 

For our taco night I was in charge of rice and I decided to do two different types, Classic Spanish Rice and Cilantro Lime Rice. I made these in the simplest way possible, and vegan! The recipes do call for butter, but I used vegan smart balance to cut out all animal products.

I decided to make two types of rice that included similar ingredients so that I wouldn't have to spend a lot of time making each one. The most important thing in both of these recipes, and really all Mexican food in my opinion, is cilantro. Both recipes also used roasted garlic and lime.

 

Rather than roasting cloves of garlic and trying to spread them evenly in the rice while they are soft I roasted pre-minced garlic by folding it into some foil and baking.

 

I made this really simple for myself by cooking 3 cups of rice ahead of time in a rice cooker and separating them into two bowls. By doing this, all I needed to do was mix the ingredients together. Cooking the rice in a pot using broth and mixing the ingredients in can make it more flavorful, but also takes more time.

Classic Spanish Rice 

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of cooked rice

1 can fire roasted dice tomatoes

1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Juice from 1/4 lime 

1 tbsp roasted garlic

1 tbsp chipotle seasoning

Salt to taste

*For the seasoning, I have a premixed seasoning that my Uncle puts together himself and passed along to me. You can buy premixed chipotle seasonings, use taco seasoning, or make your own using cayenen pepper, paprika, garlic salt, and anything else you may like depending on your preference.

Thoroughly mix all ingredients together. Heat in oven if necessary, serve warm.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of cooked rice

3 tbsp "butter"

1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Juice from 1/2-1 lime

1 tbsp roasted garlic

Salt to taste

Thoroughly mix all ingredients together. Heat in oven if necessary, serve warm.

Happy Taco Tuesday! Xo

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Taco Tuesday: Honey Lime Sweet Potato Tacos

Tacos without meat is a bit of a stretch even for me, but calling all taco lovers, vegetarian, vegan, and not! This combo definitely got a thumbs up from me. Potatoes have proven time and time again to be a sufficient center of a meal. This recipe was adapted from Cooking Classy.

I two huge sweet potatoes and I will admit, it was a bit of an overkill. But, the good thing is that potatoes are just as good the next day as leftovers.

The seasoning used was delicious and honestly might have even been better the next day. 

Ingredients
1-2 lbs sweet potatoes, lightly peeled and cut into cubes
Olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp lime juice
1 clove minced garlic
1 can black beans
1 cup frozen corn
1 yellow onion, diced
Corn tortillas
Cilantro & avocado for topping

Directions
Preheat oven in 425*. Toss potatoes with a few tablespoons of olive oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper until evenly coated. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Caramelize onion in frying pan with olive oil, and garlic about 5 minutes. Add in can of drained black beans, corn, honey, and lime juice. Fry until heated through.

Dish up and enjoy!

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Taco Tuesday: Breakfast Tacos

My favorite thing about tacos is that there are so many different ways you can approach making them, such as breakfast tacos to start your day off with a kick. This Taco Tuesday is particularly great because my friend Maddy snapped these photos for me, while also keeping my mimosa glass full. It's important to have friends that support you.

These tacos are really simple and as always, can be done in many different ways.

I used bell pepper, onion, turkey bacon, and an egg as my main fillers. I know most people roll their eyes at me when I mention turkey bacon, but I don't eat red meat and I love love turkey bacon.

 

I fried up the bell pepper in a pan with garlic and cayenne pepper for a bit while cooking the bacon in the oven. Everything I've read says to cook bacon in the oven at 400* for about 15 minutes, with turkey bacon I kept an eye on it and flipped it around 10 minutes to get it crispier. 

 It turned out beautiful and crispy!

Now for putting it all together - Fry an egg in a pan, the time depending on how runny you like your yolk. Then put some strips of bacon and flip the whole thing onto a tortilla in the pan. Frying the tortilla up for a bit will warm the whole thing through.

 Then top with fixings, in this case bell pepper, garlic, onion, salsa, lime, and cilantro.

Enjoy!

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Taco Tuesday: Jamaican Jerk

TACO TUESDAY IS BACK! And let me tell you, I am pretty happy about it. I love trying new taco recipes! I got some inspiration from Pinterest (you can follow me here) to try out Jamaican Jerk Chicken Tacos. 

I looked up a few different recipes for Jamaican Jerk seasoning and decided to whip up my own. Once I had the seasoning together it was very simple. I marinated the chicken with that, lime, and garlic for a few hours. Marinating is something I never really do but I think it totally makes a difference in flavor if you can plan ahead of time. I also used the seasoning to make a greek yogurt based sauce for topping.

 (My awesome Star Wars notepad I've been using for recipe notes)

I was really happy with the way these turned out!

 Jamaican Jerk Seasoning:
2 tsp onion powder
3 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp garlic salt
*This made more than I used for 2 chicken breasts and the yogurt sauce.

Zesty Greek Yogurt Sauce:
1 cup of plain greek yogurt
1.5 tbsp Jamaican jerk seasoning
1 tsp sugar
1/2 avocado
Juice from 1/2 a lime

Marinate 2 chicken breasts in 3 tbsp of seasoning, juice from 1 lime, and 1 tsp of garlic. Cook thoroughly in pan on stovetop. As always, you can top your tacos with whatever you prefer. I used red bell peppers, black beans, onions, greek yogurt sauce, and goat cheese. I know goat cheese sounds a little strange to most people but if I decide to use any cheese on chicken tacos this is my favorite kind!

Happy Taco Tuesday! Xox

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