Vegan recipe: Veggie Chick'n Taquitos with Guacamole

Hey, whaddaya know? The Veggie Guy has posted a recipe for the first time in... well, too danged long. Really, it's a pretty simple recipe, but it turned out very well.

Okay, first, the guacamole.

I have a confession to make - I've always used those seasoning packets from the produce aisle - you know, mash 2 avocados, add the seasoning packet, and... instant guacamole.

But tonight, I decided to make guacamole from scratch. Here are the ingredients (minus the tomatoes, which were fashionably late for the event):



Clockwise from top: 2 monster avocados (really, these were the biggest danged avocados I've seen in a while), 2 cloves of garlic, a few sprigs of cilantro, a red jalapeno, a small red onion, and a jar of cumin. As I mentioned, 2 roma tomatoes showed up just after the picture was taken. Prima donnas...

Step 1: Peel and mash the avocados.

Step 2: Dice 1 roma tomato, about 1/2 of 1 small red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 jalapeno, and cilantro. Add all ingredients , plus 1/2 tbsp cumin, to avocado.

Step 3: Mash all ingredients with a fork and mix. Put in a bowl and refrigerate for 1/2 hour to allow flavors to combine.

Now for the taquitos:

1/2 package Morningstar Farms Veggie Chick'n Strips

4 small flour tortillas

1/2 tbsp adobo seasoning powder

4 oz. Veggie Shreds cheddar and pepperjack flavored soy cheese

1 roma tomato, diced

1 red jalapeno, diced

1/3 tbsp olive oil

4 oz beer (or whatever you don't drink while cooking)

1/2 small red onion, diced

In a medium skillet or wok, add olive oil, Veggie Chick'n strips, adobo seasoning, jalapeno, 1/2 of the diced red onion, and beer. Cook over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

At this point, my 5-year-old daughter confiscated the camera and snapped a shot of the Veggie Guy in his favorite place in the house:

Place 1/4 of the Veggie Chick'n in each tortilla, add Veggie Shreds. Roll into taquitos and place in a baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes.

Serve with diced tomatoes, remaining red onions, vegan sour cream, and guacamole. (Kroger had Tofutti vegan sour cream on sale for $1.88 today!)

So there you go. The Veggie Guy has resurrected, like the proverbial phoenix or Jesus or that guy from the Evil Dead series... Only I make way better guacamole.

Super Easy Taquitos

Here's one of our household favorites - partially because my wife loves Mexican-ish food, and partially because it's a quick and easy solution for dinner. These taquitos can be assembled in about 10 minutes, and ready to serve in another 15. Yay for me for serving up yet another recipe that beats the 1/2 hour threshold. But you know me... that's just how I roll.

Note: This is one of the few recipes here that is not vegan. You can make it almost vegan by using Veggie Shreds ("almost" because Veggie Shreds contain casein, an animal product). Barring that, I'm not sure what you would do.

Anyway, here's how Super Easy Taquitos happen:

8 corn tortillas, taco size (I dunno - 8 inches in diameter?)
1 can vegetarian refried beans (don't assume all refried beans are vegetarian. Some contain lard and/or bits of Marlon Brando)
1 jar taco sauce
4 oz Veggie Shreds cheddar "cheese"
1 medium white or yellow onion, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Spoon 2 tbsp refried beans into each tortilla, about 1/3 of the way from one edge. Spread chopped onion over refried beans. Pour 1 tsp of taco sauce over beans/onions. Fold edge of each tortilla closest to the beans over the filling, and continue rolling until you reach the opposite edge.

Place the taquitos in a large casserole dish or rectangular glass 13" x 9" baking dish, allowing the taquitos to touch. Pour taco sauce over the top of the taquitos, then sprinkle the remainder of the onions over the taco sauce. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

Serve with chips and guacamole or salsa.