Whiteley Creek Homestead

I made a meatless taco salad when my daughter Lisa invited her friend Niki, who is vegetarian, over for dinner. The recipe came from a vegetarian cookbook that I purchased when Dick and I attended a Hallelujah Acres nutritional seminar in Tampa, Florida. Serve it with a cluster of grapes and chunks of zucchini oatmeal bread and you have a nutritious tasty meal.

Vegetarian Taco Salad

Taco Sauce:

Heat 1 cup water or chicken broth. Turn off heat then add 1 cup TVP. Stir, cover with a lid, and let stand for 10 minutes.

Prepare veggies:

1 cup carrots, chopped into very small pieces so that they cook through at the same rate as the other veggies

1 cup green peppers, or green/red peppers combo, or zucchini/peppers combo

1 cup chopped onions

Saute veggies in small amount of water or chicken broth/stock until they are tender but still have some firmness. Season with generous measurements of 1 tsp powder oregano, ¾ tsp cumin, and ¾ tsp garlic powder. Add rehydrated TVP and 1 can black beans. Add Bragg Liquid Aminos to taste. Heat.

Prepare toppings:

sliced black olives, Romaine lettuce (shredded or cut into small pieces), and shredded cheddar cheese

Assemble salad:

On a dinner plate, crumble blue corn chips and top with shredded lettuce. Add a ladle of taco mix and top with shredded cheese and a few black olives. Serve with mild salsa. I like Muir Glen and Wild Harvest Organic (Cub Foods store brand).

Bragg liquid Aminos is essential. It gives the taco salad a wonderful salty flavor. TVP (textured vegetable protein), which is also labeled TSP (textured soy protein), is used as a  replacement for meat in the dish. It comes dehydrated and when rehydrated with water, vegetable broth, chicken broth, beef broth, or tomato juice it has the texture of ground beef.