Vegan Quinoa Tacos with Black Beans, Corn and Guacamole (the veggie plot is ready. . . tomatoes beckon, asparagus not so much)

I blame this meal on Hillary. And the media. If I see her one more time ordering "that" food, I swear. Were there moments when I was ready to cave-in, get the car and go forth in dark sunglasses to my favorite lunch spot? Absolutely. But cooler heads prevailed and my own food pantry beckoned, and here's what we had instead. (Let's hope the media can spend the next year and a half focusing on something more relevant than Hillary's attire and sunglasses at a "refueling" stop from her campaign bus.) 

Don't. Get. Me. Started. 

This dinner came together in a snap and was only a two-pan clean-up. I love quinoa. Maybe even more than rice. (I've been known to combine the two!) I've been cooking a lot more lately with grains. Or at least trying to incorporate more of them into our dinners. I would typically go with lentils in my vegan taco dinner--but this proved a very worthy dinner entree. The next day, we had them for lunch--cold. No re-heating necessary. Really good. Tons of protein, fiber and iron. Skip to the bottom for the recipe.

Now for the veggie patch update. Up until about three weeks ago, I was going to skip gardening this year. I know, right?! What with my "plantar fasciitis" and all the other old lady aches and pains I've acquired while trying to re-juggle my workout routines (I've enlisted the help of a personal trainer--and let's just say: recovery time is mandatory)--I find there's a small window of days where my body is limber enough for bending over and digging in the dirt. (Or rock, which is what I have in my yard. Tons of it.) 

I've been using the raised bed method of growing food for about seven years now. What began as an experiment to see just how much food I could grow in clay soil, has turned into a really successful march into the world of actually having a "productive" vegetable patch. And all without tilling!

 (Now don't think for a minute my organic method doesn't cause me some trouble--check back with me in July and see how much "love" I have for the veggies then.)

Last fall, I decided to get a little more aggressive with my garden at the end of the season--or when I "put them to bed". I pulled out all of my old vegetable plants, layered all the beds with old paper grocery bags, then topped those with a layer of hay. (I purchased the bale of hay/or was it straw?--last fall when we got our mums.) That's it. I didn't amend the beds with anything else. I let nature do her work.

 I had no idea what would come of this, but to my mind, what I was hoping for was an easier spring--meaning less chores when it came time to plant. The soil would be "ready". Well, the experiment worked! When I stuck my garden spade into the ground, it was like I was cutting right through . . . butter. I was so happy. Worms were everywhere! And. . . so were the chiggers. OMG. I'm a walking chigger bite right now. While I was planting and starting seeds of beets, carrots, cucumbers, beans and whatnot, I may have stepped or kneeled onto one of the world's largest chigger hang outs. Holy Crap. I thought it might have been too cool for the little irritants to be mulling around--we really haven't hit eighties yet--and most nights still in the forties. Um. Nope. They're out. And they really love me. **I look like a chicken pox patient right now.    

So, always on the lookout for a bargain, I was shopping one day at HD and they were having a huge sale on their starter plants--many of which were heirloom tomatoes (several types I'd never grown). You see where this is going. I had twelve new "starter" tomato plants that needed a home. (In addition to thirty tomato plants I started in the basement!) So here's what I figure--we'll have an early crop of tomatoes and then a later crop--I'll drop some tomato plants in the spots where the kale and broccoli are now. 

Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my asparagus bed. The poor things were getting choked off by the mint. It was like a siren song was being sent to the mint from my asparagus bed. Those mint plants infuriated me. So I pulled all the asparagus up. The bed was almost four years old. It's okay. I'll start another one this fall if I want to. I left just a few plants in the bed with the new tomatoes--why? Because the tomatoes and asparagus are great companion plants.   

You can see here, for extra measure, I lay some newspaper down on top around the tomatoes (to keep that mint/weeds at bay). There's basil and then a few crowns of asparagus in there, too. I'm "crowding" my beds this year--another experiment to see just how well the plants do.

On the other side of the yard is our dandelion patch. I don't think I've ever seen so many dandelions as I've seen this spring. And because they're beneficial to the soil, I never pull them. Nor should you.

Frankie has pruned the entire backyard of it's "extra" branches and trees she doesn't like (two apple trees and cherry tree. . . so far). Our baby girl is nine months old now. Precious.  

Vegan Quinoa Tacos with Black Beans, Corn and Guacamole

*serves four

1/2 cup quinoa 

1 1/2 cup water

2 T. avocado oil

1 onion diced

1 rib of celery diced

4 garlic cloves minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

fresh ground pepper

fine sea salt (to taste)

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup cooked black beans

1/2 cup frozen corn

corn tortillas

avocado

salsa

Add quinoa to small sauce pan with water. Cover and cook over medium heat until water begins to boil, then turn heat down and allow the quinoa to simmer for about ten minutes covered. Remove from heat and keep covered until ready to add to "taco" mix. In a medium saute pan, add the avocado oil over medium heat--add the onions, garlic and celery and saute for about five minutes. Add all the seasonings and mix well (the aroma will fill the kitchen!). Saute for about five more minutes. Add the can of tomatoes, black beans and corn. Cover and over a low heat, allow this to simmer for about ten more minutes. Add the cooked quinoa to the pan and mix well. Cover again and allow to cook over low heat for about fifteen minutes--this will allow the yummy seasonings to really permeate the dish. Remove from heat. Serve in corn shells with a side of smashed up avocado, salsa and vegan cheese on top. Yum!