Raw Taco Salad

 

    As I have written before, that I am looking for ways to eat more protein but cannot afford to eat pastured meat everyday. I have been experimenting and have created some real disasters, also some family favorites. This salad is a family fav and they say the “meat” taste just like the real thing. This salad is easy, simple to suite your families tastes and healthy. That is a win/win.

    One word about getting your family to eat food they are not use to. First you cannot climb the mountain in one step. I was not sure what my family would think of this salad, so I left the "meat' off to the side, thinking that could just sprinkle it on. Actually they heap it on but that is okay because they are still eating a big salad. At first I had a lot of olives, chips and cheese but slowly started reducing all that and adding more veggies. So work with what you know your family likea and do not freak if they want a lot of the goodies and not the veggies. In time you will win them over!!

 

Raw Taco Salad

Makes a large salad for 4-6 people, it is vegan if you leave out the cheese

Raw taco meat, see below

Lime Cilantro vinaigrette

2-3 romaine lettuce hearts, cut into strips (you can also use some cabbage like I did in the photo)

¼ red onion, thinly sliced

½ cucumber, cut into small cubes

1 red pepper, cleaned and thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, cut up, juice and all

1 large avocado

½ cup jack cheese, small cubes

Toss all vegetables and cheese together. Dress w/ vinaigrette. You can then add the taco meat but I like to serve it on the side so everyone can add to their liking.

 

Raw Taco Meat

Makes 1 cup

1 cup sunflower seeds, see note about seeds

1-3 tsp of taco seasoning, homemade or store bought. (Just read those labels and know who you are buying from. Some of those spices mixes are full of fillers, GMO & other nasty things.)

About a piece of red onion that looks about the size of a generous TBL.

In a food processor add all three ingredients and pulse chop a couple of time. Taste and adjust, then pulse chop until you get a crumbly, moist meat. The onion is where you get your moister and holds the nuts together. Do not over pulse and create a paste.

Notes:

• 1. You can use raw sunflower seeds but if your family is new to eating lots of nuts (or is picky, like mine can be) I suggests you uses salted, roasted sunflower seeds to start with. Once your family is use to eating this dish, you can start to move them towards raw sunflower seeds. Just add a bit salt to the recipe meat then.
• 2. If you are not worried about doing low carb, you can add bean and crushed taco chips. Or serve them on the side like I do. You can also add olives or different cheese. Really the sky is the limit here. It is what you like.
• 3. Any dressing will work. My family likes thousand island dressing better but I like the lime/cilantro vinaigrette better.
•  4. You can make raw tacos too but using whole romaine leaf as the taco shell. Pile the veggies with the dressing on the shell and top with taco meat.

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Comments

[Marilyn]

Hummmm? Wondering if my family would go for this. Sounds good!

[Jody]

Brilliant idea to use the sunflower seeds and spice together to make "meat." I'm going to try that. We love taco salads and thankfully, we have our own beef so we can do the real meat, but we often have salads for lunch with nuts or seeds so this would give us some salad variety. Thank you!

[LaDonna Lateadah]

A lovely recipe. Thank you for sharing it.