I loooooved this meal the first time I made it, so it was high time I made it again. We are big walnut fans in this house (it’s mine and Pattycake’s favorite nut), so why not make taco “meat” from it?
Have you seen the graphic showing the carbon footprint from the production of various foods? You can see it and read the article here, but spoiler alert: beef tops the chart in greenhouse gas emissions.
I didn’t actually see the article before making this meal, so it was a happy coincidence that I swapped nuts for animal protein in our taco bowls. We opt for plant based meals much of the time already (the kids love soy/grains/legumes/seeds/etc just as much as anything else, so it’s pretty easy for us). I’m not saying we will never eat beef again (not that that would be an impossible path) but it’s far easier to commit to smaller changes. These types of changes are more likely to last, too. Maybe this will inspire you to try making “meat” out of walnuts instead, too! Or lentils! Or tempeh! Whatever your heart desires.
My heart also desired Doritos.
The kids had some at a cub scouts event the day before and I decided to grab an extra bag for myself, too. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had Doritos to be honest, but they looked good so why not?! When I got home I forgot about them.
Until the next day when I was making these salads and I realized chips would be PERFECT for a taco salad!
Only problem was I only had one small bag š
Selfishly, I saved it for myself and gave the rest of the fam regular tortilla chips. Normally I’d share, but they had their own bags the day before so whatever.
FYI, the original post for my walnut meat recipe can be found here (I won’t bother reposting because I did the same thing this time).
The rest of the salad was:
- romaine
- black beans (cooked in the instant pot with salt and a bay leaf)
- tomatoes
- corn
- ground walnut “meat”
- cheese
- avocado
- chips
- cilantro
- olive oil + lime juice
