Last night, Ange and Karly came over for dinner and we enjoyed a Mexican themed dinner party! I was looking for a dinner that could be prepared ahead of time and was laid back & fuss-free…Mexican food fit the bill. This week has been insanely busy with bakery orders, so I needed something that would be delicious, but not take up too much time.
I made a DIY burrito station…
I know it looks like a lot of work, but it wasn’t that bad! I cooked the lentils and beans the night before and the speltberry salad was also already made.
The great thing about this dinner is that I prepared everything ahead of time except for the guacamole which I prepared just before serving. The rest was completely finished and wrapped up in the fridge by 9am yesterday! You can’t have a lower stress dinner than that. :)
Mmm, it’s making me hungry just thinking about it! Good thing there are leftovers for my lunch today. ;)
[print_this]
Mexican Dinner Party Vegan Burritos
Serves 4-6 people
What You’ll Need: (I will link to the recipes I used)
- Pico De Gallo & Guacamole
- Back on Track II Spelt Berry Salad
- Homemade taco seasoning
- Lentil-Walnut Taco Meat (below)
- Spiced Black Beans (2 cups cooked black beans + 1-2 tsp taco seasoning)
- Daiya Cheese or other vegan cheese
- Salsa
- Shredded lettuce
- My favourite hummus
- Tortilla wraps (I used Food for Life GF) & corn chips
Preparation: I prepared everything the morning of and placed them in air-tight containers in the fridge. Just before serving, I made the Guacamole.
[/print_this]
[print_this]
Lentil-Walnut Taco Meat II
Adapted from my first version.
Yield: ~ 2.5-3 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 cup dry lentils
- 3 cups veggie broth or water
- 1 & 1/3 cup walnut halves, toasted
- 1 cup bean medley (chickpeas, kidney beans, etc)
- Homemade Taco seasoning, to taste
Directions: Cook the lentils in about 3 cups or so of vegetable broth or water until tender, about 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, toast your walnuts on baking sheet in a preheated oven at 300F for 10 minutes. Drain lentils and place lentils, beans, and walnuts in food processor. Add homemade taco seasoning to processor, starting with a teaspoon at a time. Process for just a few seconds, until chunky. You don’t want to over-process it. Taste and add more taco seasoning, repeat until desired taste is achieved. Just before serving dinner, heat a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil in it, and add lentil taco meat. Heat and serve.
[/print_this]
We had a grand ‘ol time and the burrito station was a big hit! The burrito fillings were also great to make a big salad with. I think I will be doing that for lunch today. :)
For dessert, I made vegan chocolate cupcakes with almond ‘buttercream’ and toasted coconut. They were awesome! I loved the toasted coconut on top…it really took the cupcake to a new level.
The girls each brought me some gorgeous flowers!!! I got spoiled. :) Aren’t they gorgeous?
I was told that I have to keep them alive until at least my birthday weekend May 14th. ;)
After Ange and Karly left, Eric and I watched American Idol that we taped (Go Haley!!) and I did some Vegetable Gardening reading while Eric did deck planning…
My mom gave me this book a couple years ago…how did she know that I would one day build my own vegetable garden? :) Moms are the best!
I am extremely amazed by all the gardening info that I am coming across! There is soooo much to learn and read up on. While it feels a bit overwhelming, I am extremely excited to start a garden. I could really see this becoming a huge hobby and passion of mine.
I loved this quote from Shannon the other day, “Gardening is a learning experience. Trial and error. Even the most experiences gardeners have failures and successes.” and like Karly said last night, it is better to try than to never try at all!
Many of you have also recommended the Square Foot Gardening book, so I might check that out this weekend.
Have a great Friday!
i love anchor glassware, they lids are so helpful for leftovers
Oh my goodness, yes! This looks delicious! :)
I love your blog!! Just added it to mine!!! smilewithyourheart.com
So inspiring! Thanks for posting all of your great eats!! :)
Looks great! Definitely will be doing this sometime soon – that lentil meat sounds great!
I just loooove tacos! It’s been so long. Those flowers are absolutely gorgeous. Good luck with your gardening planning. It’s so great that you’re doing research. I’m going to try a garden this year, but I think I’ll just wing it. It’ll probably turn out horrible, but hey, I may just surprise myself!
What a feast!! I have to admit that the best thing about Mexican food is assembling everything yourself with whatever toppings you like. :) YUM.
Looks great. I made your other taco “meat” with walnuts & 3 bean mix. My daughter loved it! I might have to try it with lentils.
You will love gardening!
I love the idea of lentils and walnuts taco “meat”! I eat meat myself, but I was just thinking the other day of how full and icky I feel after eating Mexican food. I think swapping out the meat and the cheese would make it much more satisfying afterwards :)
I often do a “make your own taco bar” for large gatherings. This one looks waaaaaay better than mine. I am gonna copy yours, including the cupcakes, for my next gathering. Awesome, as usual!
Wow what a spread. I always turn to build your own taco/burrito night for friends, everyone seems happy that way. but look at the taco “meat”– now that I have to try.
Those cupcakes, wow, I will also have to get at it on those.
tgif!
I just love make-your-own burritos! It’s a perfect way to satisfy everyone when you have a large get-together and totally simple to get ready! Great idea and love your choices. :)
Mexican is my go to dinner. I’m never left unsatisfied with a good taco. Beans are filling! And can’t forget the fage yogurt. :)
http://goldhearted.etsy.com
I just LOVE Mexican food – yum! I’ll definitely have to try out your lentil taco “meat”.
Mexican food is one of my favorite, favorite cuisines. This is such a great set-up! If you throw some grilled summer squash there for me to put into my soft tacos/burritos, you would have probably my Last Meal wish. And I had never thought to make my own taco seasoning, that sounds superb.
Ooh our birthdays are coming up! (Mine’s May 12th) I love everything about May, the weather starts to get warmer and I get to celebrate me, tee hee :)
The burrito station looks amazing. I love low-key easy dinners.
me too…May is fantastic if I do say so myself ;)
Tacos are one of my favorite go-to quick meals too. I am super impressed that you are taking up gardening. I have this knack for accidentally killing plants even when I follow all the instructions. I think it happened once and then I just had all these negative expectations so it kept happening. Good luck with your garden!
I do too…it will be nothing short of a miracle if I can grow something…hahaa
Ok, first off the food looks way good especially the hummus and coconut cupcakes. And second, I totally agree with the gardening thing. It is like learning all things, there are periods of trial and error. I love to garden but because I live in Brooklyn I have to garden out my fire escape in pots. Lets just say I have made a lot of errors but think this year will be great :)
Sarah
love that attitude!
Yummy! Looks very similar to what we had for dinner last night, except I made corn tortillas and there weren’t that many options :D
Long-time reader, first time commenter. Have been toying with the idea of vegan, or vegan’esque lifestyle. Love how you can make vegan food seem so appealing. Those cupcakes look amazing! Thanks for being so inspiring.
Thank you Zagara!
Taco/ burrito bars are my most favorite thing to ‘make ahead’ for company. I love that you can just as easily make it for 4 or 8… just a little more chopping.