Raw Tacos

Some days there just must be something in the air and you know it’s a Mexican food kind of day. Being a born and branded Texas girl, I probably get this craving quite a bit.

What’s my go-to recipe to cure any case of the “Mexicana Munchies,” you ask? This Raw Taco recipe is it! It’s savory and delicious! And, unlike normal Mexican food, this dish won’t leave you asking for an afternoon siesta.

Ingredients:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 handful cilantro
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
• 1 ½ T olive oil
• ½ tomato, diced
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 1 handful cilantro
• ½ yellow zucchini, shredded
• ½ avocado, sliced

Place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until roughly ground. Add the cumin, cilantro, chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic, jalapeño pepper (make sure to remove the seeds from the jalapeño first, because they are HOT HOT HOT) and olive oil to the walnut mixture. Continue to process until the mixture resembles the appearance of ground beef.

Next, take the lettuce, and gently pull off the outer layers – these lettuce wedges will double as the taco shell. Spoon the walnut mixture into the wedges and spoon on the diced tomato, onion, cilantro and shredded zucchini (which looks just like cheese). Top it off with a couple slices of avocado, and you have yourself a healthy, raw taco!

Sometimes we are in a hurry and just need to get food in our system – in that case, I would suggest making a taco salad with this same recipe. Instead of using the lettuce as taco shells, just shred it into a salad and add the toppings. Enjoy.