Taco Salad
I mentioned before that there are two salads that I have gotten into a rut of eating all the time. Well, this is one of them (and I notice from the comments that many of you are taco salad fans too.) What you see is a bed of spinach and baby lettuces tossed with lime juice, topped by chili-spiced pinto beans and homemade salsa. I've also included a little fresh tomato and avocado on the side.
I have to admit to you that on most days I'm too rushed to make both chili beans and salsa, so often one or the other (or both!) comes from a can. But, if you have time to make them from scratch, it's completely worth it. Besides being able to control what goes into your beans and salsa, you will be amazed at how much better the salad tastes with fresh ingredients.
When I make salsa, I never measure ingredients, so this is just a list of what I usually add:
diced tomatoes
chopped green pepper
chopped red onion
minced garlic
minced jalapeño pepper
lime juice
black pepper
salt
I mix it up and let the flavors mingle for about 15 minutes before using.
For the chili beans, I used a pressure cooker, but you can cook these on the stove top or in a slow cooker. The pressure cooker just makes it so much faster.
Chili Pinto Beans
1 pound dried pinto beans, rinsed, picked over, and soaked
3 cups water
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 dried red chilies (whole)
2 tbsp. tomato paste*
2-3 tsp. chili powder (may use all or part chipotle chili powder)
salt, to taste
1 green pepper, minced
Cover the beans with water and presoak them overnight; or do a quick-soak by bringing them to a boil for one minute, removing them from the heat, and allowing them to stand, covered, for one hour.
Drain the soaking liquid from the beans. Place them in the pressure cooker with the water, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, and chilies. Close the pressure cooker and bring it to high pressure; cook for 5 minutes at high pressure. Remove from heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally.
Open the cooker and remove the dried chilies (squeeze them gently to get out all the flavor, but don't add the seeds to the beans if you don't want them to be spicy). Add the remaining ingredients and cook, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes. Adjust seasonings to your own taste. Serve hot with fresh salsa.
This makes about 6 servings. Try it as a filling for burritos, or mash it and "fry" it in a non-stick skillet for refried beans.
*I am crazy about Amore Tomato Paste in a tube. It's great when you don't need an entire can of tomato paste, and I think it tastes better than the store brand, too. I will not lie to you: compared to the cost of grocery store tomato paste, it's expensive. If you don't want the added expense, open a can of tomato paste, use what you need, and freeze the rest in a freezer bag for a later use. Flatten the bag so that it's easy to break off a chunk of tomato paste whenever you need it.
Okay, that's 4 out of 5 salads. Tune in tomorrow to see another of my old favorites!
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free Eat to Live salad
Labels: eat to live, gluten-free, pressure cooker














14 Comments:
excellent! I was looking for a faster, lighter taco salad than the one i usually do...and this will work great. (I would use canned beans, spice them up...i can never seem to get beans right cooking them...)
Thanks for the tip of freezing the tomato paste,I hate wasting it, and yet I have a hard time using the entire can of it.
Brandie
http://kajismom.blogspot.com
Can't wait to make it!
http://www.recipewitch.com
I eat salsa on my salad every day frequently twice a day. I usually have about a tablespoon of guacamole with it. I know that is not fat free, but it has a nice mouth feel and I think helps the meal be more satisfying. I rotate different kinds of beans from chick peas to kidney beans to black beans and whatever else sounds good! It's yummy!!
Beautiful! I love the presentation. It just makes you happy to sit down and eat it! :P
I love the taco salad. The tomatoes and avocado on the edges really looks great! I bet I'd love this recipe!
Thank you!!
~Candi
http://candi2400.blogspot.com/
I love Mexican! I love Taco Salads! This is perfect! yum! LOVE all the colors in the pic, too!
Freezing tomato paste...gotta try that! Thanks!
What a vibrant and colorful meal. Looks fantastic. The chili pinto beans sound so tasty.
I'm loving your week of salads -- it's reminded me how delicious and varied they can be, and how much I love them for lunch (or dinner!).
With freezing tomato paste I usually go one step further -- I measure out tablespoons of the leftovers, put them on a small baking sheet, and pop that in the freezer. Once the little blobs are frozen I transfer them to a freezer bag, and when I need them I can just grab a pre-measured piece or two. It's a little extra work but I appreciate it when it comes time to cook.
I love to cook up some TVP with taco spices and put that as my protein with fresh pico de gallo and avocado!
no spinach :O
salad looks good. thanks for the recipe
This looks super tasty; I will have to try this with black beans (I dislike pinto). I have been looking for recipes that are lighter now that spring is [supposedly] here. I've never seen or used dried red chiles - where do you find these and do they have a more specific name? The only kind of dried chiles that I've ever used are ancho chiles. Would they work here and, if so, how many would you recommend? Thanks, Susan!
Any kind of chiles should work, M. Just use whatever kind you can find or whatever heat level you're comfortable with. The kind I used were the small, hot red chiles you can find in Indian grocery stores.
Add ground beef, cheddar and monterrey jack cheese for a different flavor.
Person above me, that was not funny.
Melissa
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