Veggie Soft Tacos + Quinoa with Corn

Tacos are a staple in our house! Who doesn't love a warm tortilla layered with delicious goodies?! Our favorite Mexican restaurants always serve tacos alongside a heaping serving of cheese-coated refried beans and perfectly cooked Spanish rice. While it certainly tastes good, the refried beans and rice don't offer you very much nutritionally. We've cleaned it up a bit by adding corn-studded quinoa and grilled squash and zucchini. The corn naturally sweetens up the quinoa and a dash of zingy Spike lends a delicious flavor to really simple squash.

TVP (or textured vegetable protein) is a scary sounding name for a not-so-scary product. It's the natural result of defatting soy flour. When the soy oil is extracted, the resulting stuff is formed into a porous, dehydrated high-protein that not only stores well, but re-hydrates into a fantastic ground meat substitute. We like to mix ours with minced vegetables and spices to not only increase the nutrition profile, but to give it a more interesting texture. 

I love using non-fat plain Greek yogurt in lieu of sour cream (and it doesn't bug my stomach in limited amounts), but you can always skip it for a full on vegan feast! The variations possible on this meal are endless! Feeling daring? Skip the avocado and olives and tuck in a little kimchee and pickled cucumbers for a Korean flair or mix in some black beans to make the tacos taste even richer.

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 4

• 1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein)
• 1 cup broth (seitan, vegetable or not-beef)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 florets cauliflower, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium onion, minced
• 2 white or cremini mushrooms, minced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• generous sea salt and pepper
• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
• handful of chopped ripe olives
• sliced cabbage
• non-fat greek plain yogurt (optional)
• hot sauce (optional)

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 2 summer squash, sliced
• Spike or other natural spice blend

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare quinoa by combining quinoa, water and salt in pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover with lid. Cook for 15 minutes, checking every once in awhile, until the water has evaporated, quinoa is transparent and fluffy. Stir in corn and set aside, covered to keep warm.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in large pan over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower, garlic, onion, and mushrooms. Saute until very tender about 8 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile bring broth to a boil.
4. Combine TVP and spices (chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and onion powder). Stir in hot broth and cover with a lid. Keep covered for 5 minutes.
5. Salt and pepper the cauliflower mix and stir in TVP. Adjust seasonings as necessary. Keep on medium-low to remove excess liquid.
6. Preheat grill pan or outdoor grill over medium-high. Spray with cooking spray. Toss zucchini and squash with a generous shake of Spike (or spice blend) and add to grill pin.
7. Grill until marks appear on one side (about 5 minutes) then flip and grill until marks appear. Remove to plate.
8. Heat tortillas in microwave (wrapped in damp paper towel for 30 sec) or on warm grill pan.
9. Fill with TVP mixture, avocado, cabbage, olives and top with yogurt and hot sauce (optional).
10. Serve quinoa and grilled veggies alongside!