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Day 26 of our “One Month Raw Food Cleanse”
I’ve been craving Mexican food and this hearty salad does the trick. It’s quick and easy and uses the heart healthy walnut “taco meat” used in the May 5th “Soft Taco” recipe and the “lime chia seed dressing” posted on April 9th. A single serving delivers 4.1 grams of omega 3 fatty acid in a perfect 4:1 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3.
As we wind down our one month raw food cleanse, you should go through the many healthy raw recipes I’ve posted over the past few months and continue to incorporate your favorites into your normal eating regimen. I think this one could become one of your favorites!
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Raw Vegan Taco Salad [serves 2]
1 small head of butter or red leaf lettuce, cleaned and torn into bite sized pieces
4 small tomatoes, cut into eighths
Kernels from 1 small ear of fresh corn
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 medium avocado, sliced
2/3 cup raw walnuts
2/3 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce
1 teaspoon chia seeds
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
To make the dressing, combine the chia seeds with 2 T of water. Set aside until it forms a gel (about an hour). Once it gels, add cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
For the taco meat, put the walnuts, chili powder and Nama Shoyu in a food processor and briefly process until the mixture resembles taco meat. Do not over process.
Prepare the salad by combining the lettuce, tomatoes, corn and green onion. Dress the salad with the lime chia seed dressing and place on two large plates. Top each salad with half of the avocado slices and half of the taco meat. For a vegetarian version, add crumbled goat cheese.
Per serving: 474 calories, 39.2 g fat, 4.3 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 12.6 g protein, 29.2 g carbohydrates, 11.3 g fiber, 4.1 g omega 3 and 16.7 g omega 6 fatty acid.
Menu for Day 26
Breakfast is a smoothie with banana, pear, spinach, stevia, two brazil nuts and a teaspoon of vitamineral green. Lunch is faux “tuna fish salad” posted April 25, 2009 but instead of stuffing an heirloom tomato, I’m stuffing a red bell pepper half. I’ll snack on fruit and vegetable slices today since there are quite a few nuts and seeds in my meals. Dinner is the featured “taco salad” recipe. Dessert is watermelon.
Day 5 of our “One Month Raw Food Cleanse”
No need to miss a holiday like this just because you’re on a raw food cleanse. Besides, I’d never miss Cinco de Mayo. Having lived in Texas for 18 years and over 20 years in California, this is a holiday that is near and dear to my heart. When I was CEO of Ampro Computers, I’d often bring in a pile of burritos and other Mexican food for the entire company at lunch time. OK, they weren’t as healthy as the recipe I’m sharing with you today, but if you can find a white meat chicken or vegetarian burrito on a whole wheat tortilla with little or no cheese, you have a pretty healthy dish.
These soft tacos feature chili flavored “meat” from heart healthy walnuts. With a food processor, you can whip up this dish in 10 minutes and I promise you will not be able to tell the difference between the walnut meat and regular ground meat. Covered with a simple salsa, a couple of these tacos make a great lunch or dinner. For a full Cinco de Mayo celebration, serve these with the “guacamole and raw jalapeno corn chips” posted on April 14, 2009.
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Raw Vegan Soft Tacos With A Simple Salsa [makes 4 soft tacos]
4 leaves of organic butter lettuce, washed
1 cup raw walnuts (NOT soaked)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon Nama Shoyu soy sauce
1 small avocado, diced
1 small yellow or red bell pepper (or ½ cup diced tomatoes)
3 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (more or less to taste)
Please walnuts, chili powder and Nama Shoyu in a food process and blend just until the walnuts are course and resemble ground meat. Set aside. Gently combine the avocado, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Place 1/4 of the nut meat and 1/4 of the salsa on each of the butter lettuce leaves and serve immediately.
Per taco: 256 calories, 24.3 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, zero g cholesterol, 5.5 g protein, 8.8 g carbohydrates, 4.8 g fiber, 2.7 g omega 3 and 11.7 g omega 6 for a healthy omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of 4.3.
Menu for Day 5
Blueberry smoothie for breakfast (I’m still working my way through that big bag of blueberries), an apple with raw almond butter for lunch and for dinner, a few of these wonderful soft tacos with salsa. I just bought 6 pounds of chia seeds so we’ll be having chia pudding for dessert (see April 11, 2009 posting). HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!
