A Mexican Fiesta

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. ;)

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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.

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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.

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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!