Taco Night!

This is hardly a recipe, but in keeping with this blog's aim to help new vegans and anyone looking for very easy meal ideas, I offer the latest kid-friendly family favorite:

Tacos!

package of taco shells (or if you want to make burritos instead, large flour tortillas)
a can or two of refried beans*
lettuce chopped small or shredded (I like Romano because it stays crispy)
hot sauce
a few tomatoes, chopped


*Instead of refried beans you can warm a couple of T olive oil, sautee some sliced garlic cloves in it, add a can or two of drained, rinsed beans, and cook for ten minutes or so.

OPTIONAL:
salsa
guacamole or chopped avocado (sprinkled with lime juice and salt if you like)
cilantro
cooked brown rice
cooked corn
chopped green onion
chopped green chile peppers
chopped bell pepper
sliced jalapenos
. . . and anything else you like

Set everything out on the table, and let everyone make tacos.

That's it!

Full Moon, Paul Klee, 1919

Muesli

Another from A Week of Meals for $29.78.

Starting in the 1920s, my Estonian grandmother was a follower of Swiss nutrition pioneer Dr. Maximillian Bircher-Benner, who invented this healthful cereal. It makes a good meal any time of day. If you've never had it before, try it. It will fill you right up and make you feel like going for a hike in the Alps.

There are many ways to make it. Here's the simplest, for when you're short on money or time or your cupboards aren't stocked:

Simplified Muesli

1.5 c raw oats

1 apple
1 c nondairy milk (soy, oat, coconut . . .)
(chopped nuts if you have them)

Chop apple into little cubes, and mix with oats and milk (and nuts). This is actually one of my favorite meals--yummy and satisfying.

If you have the following ingredients, add any or all of them:

Raisins or chopped dates or any other dried fruit (such as cranberries, currants . . . )
Any other fresh chopped fruit, or fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries . . . )
Seeds such as sunflower, pumpkin, chia, flax . . . 

Alps, Isaac Levitan, 1897

Oat Milk

The latest in the recipes from my post A Week of Meals for $29.78 is another handy one for when you're really very broke: DIY oat milk! So cheap, so easy.


Oat Milk recipe from veganlovlie

Gazelles Near the Tree, Martiros Saryan, 1907