Walnut Tacos!

raw walnut tacos

I put an exclamation mark in the title of this post because these tacos were absolutely delicious...and I'm not exaggerating either. In the photo, they don't look especially extraordinary, but these tacos had a major yum factor going on, which was largely due to the raw walnut filling. (I took the photos about 20 minutes before dinner; so rest assured that we loaded on plenty more salsa and hot sauce right before eating them.)

I used this recipe as the basis for the filling with a few additions and substitutions. Instead of the plain olive oil, I used some vegan basil pesto. I also added some nacho jalapeno slices, some cumin, a splash of soy sauce, and some nutritional yeast for good measure. If you make the recipe, I suggest using it as a base and customizing it to your tastes by adding in your own little tweaks and perks. But whatever you do, don't exclude the sun dried tomatoes...they give this filling a lot of flavor.

raw walnut taco filling

There was tomato rice too--it's not in the photo because it was still cooking when I shot the tacos. If you've never had it, tomato rice is delicious: you basically saute onions with herbs/spices of your choice (I added chili powder, cumin, oregano) until the onion becomes translucent, then add the rice stir it through, then pour in an herby tomato broth, bring to simmer, cover and cook the rice through.

Now, on to the beer. Barnivore says this beer is vegan-friendly, so we couldn't resist trying some:

vegan-friendly watermelon-infused beer

It's fermented with watermelon juice; and it does have a subtle watermelon overtone...perfect with tacos on a summer evening, in my humble opinion.

Here's dessert:

local organic fruit, YUM!

Oh, and before I forget, has anybody tried these?

radish seed pods

They're some radish pods. I had never seen them before picking them up at the farmers' market last week. They're sweet and crunchy. The farmer said they're good in stir frys...I've been using them in salads.  Of course in order to get these, you can't eat the radishes--can't have your radishes and your pods too ya know :) 

Ciao for now.

Roseann LaPonte

Rosanne Tobin