Walnut Taco Meat

Welp, friends, I have to be honest with you today and say that it’s my birthday. It’s my 40th birthday. I don’t even understand how I’m writing those words right now! But you know…the alternative to getting older isn’t really ideal, so I’ll just embrace it and keep looking for the positives!

Part of my getting older journey is learning to take better care of this body of mine. It’s been through a lot over the years…and especially during the last year. So, I’m trying to love the skin I’m in, appreciate the season I’m in, and learn to eat well and exercise more, to keep my body as healthy as I can. I have so much further to go, but I’m always happy when I can make changes and stick with them…so, counting those as wins!

During the month of May this year, I somehow talked Jason into cutting out processed sugar from our diet. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty, but it was possible! I felt really good during that time, so I’m making an attempt to keep it going. Maybe not as strongly this week…as I celebrate my birthdays hard and for several days. Anyone else? If you want a recipe that kept us strong during May and still gave us something “sweet” to eat, click HERE!

Once May was over, Jason thought it would be good if we added another food group to eliminate. I’m usually a go big or go home person, so I chose meat. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Hilary, how could you make such a ridiculous decision?’ I know. I know. It’s pretty drastic and I’m getting sadder about it by the day. However, I need to point out that I have several friends who eat this way and they have glowing skin and hair, seem to have heaps of energy, and live a super healthy lifestyle over-all. I want that, friends. I may not be ready to go the vegan route, but I’m sure willing to try the no meat/vegetarian thing. I am also still eating eggs occasionally, since we get them directly from an organic farm and I know exactly how the chickens are raised and treated who lay them.

Now, Jason isn’t totally on-board with the no meat thing, even though he suggested adding another food group to eliminate. I think when he mentioned that, he was thinking of doing another Whole 30. I say to that, ‘no way, sir.’ Whole 30 made me seriously depressed. Blergh. Since I do the lion’s share of the cooking around here, I’m trying to do a couple of meatless meals a week that we’ll share and a couple that can go either way. I’m not looking for extra work, but part of eliminating meat will mean that I need to be very prepared.

One of my favorite meals is tacos. I could legitimately eat just plain old taco meat every day. That’s not an exaggeration. I love it. So, this was something I was going to need to find a substitute for, and fast. The first recipe I found for meatless taco “meat” used walnuts chopped up in a blender. I thought, well, I have plenty of walnuts on-hand…let’s do this!

Friends, it’s actually super good…and everything in it is clean! You could use a pre-made taco seasoning but using your own spices in this is super easy…so you won’t even mind doing it. Plus, it’s legitimately 5 ingredients—it doesn’t get much better or easier than that when you’re cooking.

I served my walnut taco meat on a low-carb tortilla, heated in an ungreased pan. To build the taco, I spread guacamole on the tortilla, added the taco meat, a bit of queso fresco, chopped coleslaw, and a spiced sauce made by mixing plain Greek yogurt and taco seasoning. Then, I topped the taco with a few halved cherry tomatoes. There’s nothing else to say about this, other than my mouth is watering just thinking about how delicious the tacos were! Yum!

Even if you’re not eliminating meat from your diet, but maybe trying to cut back a bit, or even just like to try unique foods, this recipe will not disappoint! I went to a fast food restaurant yesterday and was pretty limited on what I could order. I told Jason later and he said I should start carrying around the walnut taco meat to use on those occasions. Ummm…I’m not that gung-ho yet. Maybe someday?

Walnut Taco Meat

What You’ll Need:

1 cup walnuts (raw)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 Tbsp soy sauce – I used low-sodium

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into food processor

2. Pulse until everything is combined. Don’t over mix, just until crumbly.

***You can add/subtract spices and seasonings to your taste. I love all these flavors, so a little extra is fine with me. I also doubled the recipe, as I wanted leftovers.

Original recipe found HERE.

For more recipe inspiration, follow me on Pinterest HERE!