Vegan Burritos with Creamy Lava Sauce

Who's in the mood for Mexican? I am. It's all my co-workers faults. They kept talking about getting lunch at Don Pablo's today & that put the idea in my head. Of course, once it was there, I could think of little else. My head is annoying that way. So Mexican for lunch became my menu. 

Mexican on my plant based, near vegan, whole foods diet isn't easy. Mostly because of dairy. You can leave the ground beef out of a burrito, but cheese?!?! And sour cream? No way. I did manage to figure something out that was even better. 

Lava sauce. 

It's like a creamy spicy bolt of flavor.  They used it on volcano tacos at Taco Bell for awhile till it was removed from the menu - a little piece of my heart died that day.  I made my own simple version of it for my lunch today. You can play with your own recipes of it. Make it as hot or mild as you choose. 

The other food thing about vegan burritos - quick & easy. No meat means no standing over the stove browning ground round, my friends. 

1 large Ezekiel brand tortilla

1/2 cup organic refried black beans

3-4 tbsp organic salsa (hot, medium, or mild - your choice)

2 tbsp tofutti, better than cream cheese 

1 tbsp diced fresh onion

1/2 tsp (more or less to taste) taco seasoning

Salt & pepper

1. Heat up your beans. 

I was at work, so I just heated them up in the microwave. I have at least two or three microwave safe bowls that I can use at work when I need them. 

Don't let the word "organic" in the recipe ingredient list scare your wallet. You can get plenty of organic items with the Meyer offbrand quite inexpensively.

Just be sure to read the ingredients list, to make sure that there aren't any added sugars or chemicals.

2. To make your lava sauce, simply heat the tofutti in the microwave for approximately 5 to 10 seconds - just long enough to make it easy to stir. Then add your taco seasonings & mix well.

You don't have to use taco seasonings from the packet. It's a simple enough to make on your own. All it takes is: chili powder, cumin, paprika, ground red pepper (if you like it spicy), garlic powder, and onion powder. I made this at work, where it's much easier to use a packet of seasoning rather than have a lot of spice jars lying around. 

3. Build your burrito. 

Add as much salsa as you like, it is very healthy and full of flavor, not to mention low on calories (only 5 per tablespoon!). I like to sprinkle fresh diced onions at the end. Adds a nice kick.

4. Finally fold up and enjoy! 

 

 By the way, if your tortilla is giving you trouble staying folded, just take some of that yummy gooey filling, and use it like a little dab of glue. 

(If that doesn't work - I'm out of ideas - just hold it down until you get the dumb thing eaten.) 

Add some fruit and steamable veggies, and you're never more than 10 minutes away from a delicious vegan Mexican meal. :-)

Vegan Tofu Scramble Breakfast Burrito

Ah, lazy Saturday. My good friend. We meet again. 

This lazy morning I felt like something that would really "stick to my ribs" but preferably not hang out there till the end of time (or worse, move south to my gut). And so I decided to try a tofu scramble. Once I decided to try go without meat or dairy, this was something I researched. I am not much of a meat eater but I'm an egg lover for sure. Tofu scramble is the vegan answer to scrambled eggs. And I'm happy to report this morning's experiment did not disappoint. 

This recipe serves two, and one burrito is enough for a small woman. I had mine with a half of a grapefruit (it was a colossal grapefruit though). I didn't feel hungry again for hours. It really hit the spot.

3 oz firm tofu, crumbled

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 small onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 orange pepper, diced

1 large leaf Swiss Chard

Half a dozen grape tomatoes, chopped

1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Sprinkle of garlic powder

Dash of paprika

Dash of turmeric

1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Splash of reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tbsp fresh cilantro 

2 Ekekiel brand large tortillas

1 tbsp tofutti sour cream substitute 

1. Sauté vegetables & tofu in olive oil over medium heat.

2. Add spices, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, & cilantro, and cook an additional five minutes till done. 

3. Build burrito with tofu mix & add 1/2 tbsp tofutti to each one.

One thing I noticed is that it's easier to crumble if you cut it into blocks first.

I measured my oil to really get a good idea what I was using. As you can see, a little goes a long way. This is just 1/2 tsp in the picture. I added another as I cooked.

The tomatoes, peppers, onions, & tofu not only taste good, but they look nice. Despite this, it just wasn't colorful enough for me, so I added some Swiss chard (another good green here would be spinach) that I had on hand. How something looks does help make it more appetizing. Besides that green is my favorite color.  

After letting this cook a few minutes I added the spices and sauces. 

The nutritional yeast & turmeric are what will make your tofu the more appetizing yellow color of traditional scrambled eggs. Add it sparingly. You can use the tiny palmful method with your turmeric but after this my hand turned yellow. I'm still waiting for it to wear off comepletely. 

Do not add salt until after you've added your sauces. I used reduced sodium soy sauce & even with that I felt I didn't need any additional salt. 

At this point I felt like it was still missing something, so I added some fresh cilantro & that was perfect! 

Once it's all cooked, I scooped it out onto a big ole tortilla. Cause this is not one of those eat a teensy tiny portion diets. I do not believe in deprivation dieting. It's just winding up the yo-yo.

I added tofutti sour cream substitute as a garnish & because the Ezekiel brand tortillas can be a little dry. 

This tasted really nice. There wasn't even a hint of that pungent soy aftertaste you are always afraid of when using tofu. It was salty, a little creamy, & the cilantro really added the hint of freshness to round out the taste. I would serve this with fruit so you can have something sweet to enjoy it with.  

Perfect for my first lazy Saturday breakfast eating vegan.