Hi friends!
Another weekend has flown by, and it was a good one for me. I kicked off my weekend with a much needed massage at the student massage school near me, San Jose National Holistic Institute. The students perform whatever massage they’ve been working on in school, and this time it was a Swedish massage. The masseuse did a good job of working on all of my achy muscles for an hour — for $20. Needless to say, it was awesome!
Afterwards I headed over to the mall to spoil myself a little, and I picked up a new Athleta workout top and some beauty loot from LUSH and Benefit Cosmetics. I’m kind of in love with LUSH. I spent some time in there playing around with things and wound up nabbing a facial cleanser and seaweed mask that I tested out and loved this weekend. I don’t go shopping often, so it was a treat!
Other highlights of my weekend included a mountain biking trip with gorgeous, peaceful scenery of rolling green hills…
…long walks with happy puppies…
…and bright & beautiful meals like this one:
It always seems like the weekends always zip by and Mondays are here before we know it right? And speaking of Mondays, today I’ve got a Meatless Monday recipe to share with you.
One concern I hear often with people who want to make more meatless meals or go vegetarian is that they just aren’t sure what to make. For me, some dinners are planned out ahead of time when I go grocery shopping, others are decided the morning of, and some are figured out as I’m staring at my fridge, hungry and ready for dinner about 15 minutes prior.
Sometimes I like to just get creative with whatever’s in my cabinets and fridge. These kinds of meals can be the best kind of surprises. Last week, this recipe came together in 20 minutes flat.
These tacos are easy to substitute different ingredients to suit your liking. It can be made vegan if you leave out the cheese, and you can skip the cashew cream and use regular sour cream or plain yogurt if you prefer.
I ate one taco vegan-style, and one with shredded cheese. Both were yummy!
Black Bean Veggie Tacos with Cashew Cream [Gluten Free]
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 zucchini
- 1 15- oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- 2 TBSP green onion
- 1/4 white onion
- 2 TBSP cilantro
- 1 avocado
- 1 vine ripe tomato
- 8 small gluten free corn tortillas
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese optional
- 1 cup raw cashews
- Juice from 1/2 small lemon
- 6 TBSP water
- 1 TSP salt
- 1/2 TSP chili pepper
- 1/4 TSP black pepper
Instructions
- Mince white onion. Warm olive oil in a large skillet, and sauté onion until lightly browned.
- Dice red pepper, zucchini, cilantro and green onion. Add to the skillet, and cook for 7 minutes or until veggies are tender.
- Dice tomato and avocado.
- Add black beans into the pan. Season with 1/2 TSP salt, chili pepper and black pepper. Stir until everything's well combined and the beans are warm. Remove from heat and add tomato and avocado into the veggie mixture.
- To make the cashew cream: Combine the raw cashews, remaining 1/2 TSP salt, lemon juice and water into a food processor and pulse until mostly smooth. You may want to add in more water to achieve desired consistency.
- Spoon veggies onto corn tortillas. Top with cashew cream and cheese, if using. Enjoy while they're warm!
Question: What was the last meatless dinner you made?
FitBritt@MyOwnBalance says
That cashew cream sounds good! I think I’ll give it a try sometime! I personally love tacos…one of my favorite meals of all time!
Looks like a fabulous weekend!
Also, that onion is gianormous!
Tara says
Cashew cream reminds me of Gracias Madre! It was so yummy when I went.
Ali says
Looks yummy! I made pasta primavera for dinner last night.
foodielovesfitness says
LOVE pasta primavera and haven’t made it lately – thanks for the idea!
Cailee @ http://hellohealthyeating.com says
W0w!! Your photos are beautiful!! and so are those salads… and tacos!! YUM! I’m in college, so I don’t really cook (because I’m on the meal plan), but I actually have been trying to eat vegan lately!! One of my fave meatless meals is a garden salad w. tofu, sunflower seeds and a bit of marinara sauce (random? I know… but it’s delicious!) and a sweet potato!! Yum! 🙂
foodielovesfitness says
Thanks so much Cailee! That definitely sounds like a weird but good combination haha hey whatever works right!