TACOS! I haven 't made t hem s inc e I was in highschool. Both tacos and fajitas were in regular weekly rotation in my house growing up as my dad LOVES spicy food. He describes himself as a hot-head . I am not ex aggerating . His favorite cuisines include fiery Indian and Mexican. He mak es obscenely spicy curries a nd homemade chili. He also adds ridiculous a mounts o f hot sauce to most of his meals. Wh en I was growing up I went through a big phase where I th ought I would become a chef. I was always inventing recipes and testing them out on my family (not much has changed about that) . I always had to BEG my dad not to season the meals I prepared before tasting them. Like clockwo rk, I would set a plate in front of him and before I could stop him he'd invariably cover it in black p epper , salt and hot sauc e. He loves big flavors and heat.





Tacos were something he alw ays loved to make for us as kids. He would turn to an Old El Paso seasoning mix and ramp up the flavor with his o wn spices and seas onings. It w as always spicy and delicious.





When I met my husband I soon discovered that he loved Mexican food. He was trying to be a good vegetarian and trying to eat quinoa all the time. He would frequently make quinoa tacos for dinner. I never joined him because for a long time I thought I didn't like the taste of quinoa very much. I also thought it was a grain (it is actually a seed or pseudo-grain ) and thought it seemed odd to eat grains in wraps -- "stodge on stodge" as my British brother-in-law would say. My husband got sick of quinoa for awhile and has fallen out of his quinoa taco habit as a result. I, however, have recently embraced quinoa wholeheartedly in its many forms -- flakes, whole grains, flour.... I make porridge, crumbles, cookies, cakes and brownies with it now and I often eat quinoa instead of rice when we make or order in Indian curries. We even had quinoa sliders at our wedding, they were delicious.





I eat quinoa almost every day now. I usually make a savory porridge of quinoa flakes, millet grits and amaranth flakes. Amaranth and quinoa are very similar seeds. They both produce flowering plants related to Spinach. They have very similar nutritional profiles -- the same nutrients and similar levels of proteins. I actually prefer the taste of amaranth for some dishes as it is less bitter and is loaded with more vitamins and minerals than quinoa contains. I have started to use amaranth flakes to thicken sauces as they add body and silkiness and minimal flavor. This week I ex perimented with them in a fantastic vegan cheeze sauce recipe (below).





There is a lot to love about quinoa and amaranth. They are both nutritional powerhouses and complete proteins. They are packed with vitamins and minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese , vitamin E, vitamin B 6, riboflavin, niacin, panothen ic a cid, folate, potassium, zinc, copper, sele nium and phosphorus. Amaran th is even known to release HGH (human growth hormone) in the body which is a great thing. They are also full of b eneficial amino acids which

Best of all, both Amaranth and Quinoa are GLUTEN-FREE!



After a very long a nd un necessary d elay , I decided to t ry to create my own vegan quinoa tacos. The quin oa taco meat turned out really delicious and very "meaty" in t he end. While I was eating it I had a hard time remembering that my meal was vegan!





I realized that our taco night was a good opportunity to create my first attempt at a Vegan Cheeze Sauce. I have been searching for cheeze recipes ever since I stopped eating dairy earlier this year. Most of the ones I have found online use cashews as their base. I am allergic to tree nuts so I haven't tried those recipes. The rest of the recipes seem to involve soy or squash or sweet potatoes. My soy allergy led me to try a squash-based cheeze sauce. Pureed squash gives vegan cheeze sauces a cheddar-like colour and a thick and smooth texture. The cheesiness in most recipes comes from either nuts or tahini or nutritional yeast. I have not cooked much with nutritional yeast. I try to limit my yeast consumption and always assumed it was wise to avoid it.





After I became fixated on the idea of making a vegan cheeze sauce, I did some research into nutritional yeast to see just how bad it is for you. It seems to be debatable . Some argue it is a nutr itional godsend for vegans and veget arians a s it is loaded with B vitamins and minerals. It also provides savory, salty and cheesy flavor with no dairy. Others worry that it contributes to candida overgro wth in the body and should be avoided. I decided to be optimistic and experiment with it.

I now officially LOVE nutritional yeast.





I added it to my vegan cheeze sauce along with some pumpkin seed butter (similar in taste and texture to tahini) and the combination was fantastic. For our taco night, the cheeze sauce was the first thing I made. After tasting the finished product I was beyond excited fo r dinner.

The vegan cheeze sauce should really be hot when you eat it.

By simmering the blended sauce in a pot, the amaranth flakes cook more thoroughly and create a convincing melted cheese texture. The chia seeds do their slimy trick and also thicken the mixture, creating a cohesive melt y sauce that's very similar to the texture a nd structure of melted cheese. Be sure to st ir the sauce often as it will stick to the pan if left alone .

We made our "tacos" with my version of homemade gluten free "tortillas" which turned out like savory crepes or thin cheesy pancakes. You could skip this part of the recipe and serve your taco meat and toppings in a bowl or wrap them in corn or flour tortillas or even swiss chard or collard green leaves.

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