I ate Beyoncé’s taco. For Science.

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Recently we, the people of the internet, all learned that Beyoncé started following a plant-based diet. When I saw she had a taco recipe I knew I’d have to try it, and I have to say, Beyoncé’s life and mine really couldn’t be more different. She is a multi-platinum selling artist who has also been in huge movies, she married Jay Z and has two kids, and she is one of the most powerful women in the world. I, on the other hand, spend my days looking at clouds, cuddling with dogs, and probably have a negative net worth. Despite our differences, Beyoncé and I seemed to have the most important thing in common: tacos.

The recipe seemed easy enough and I headed to the store to get walnuts and coconut amino acids, the latter of which I’d never heard of. I figured if Beyoncé was using them instead of soy sauce there was probably a damn good reason even if they did cost $7.

After that I stared at the bulk bin wondering if should save some money by getting conventional walnuts. But then the words popped into my head.

Of course she’d go organic.

I went home and started processing the walnuts with the coconut aminos, cumin, and corriander and I realized I was all out of balsamic vinegar. And I was planning to use some spinach in the tacos instead of the romaine that was called for until I realized the romaine wasn’t in the taco but holding it together. Baby spinach was not going to work! Even if I tried it in an attempt to make baby tacos, I knew, in my heart, I’d end up with a salad.

Off to my local HEB I went where I was stymied by the lack of balsamic vinegar. I found a million different kinds of hot sauce but balsamic was nowhere to be found. Finally, I looked in the salad dressings and found a balsamic dressing called “Sass” and I was sure that Beyoncé was helping me, but then I looked at the ingredients and realized it would not do.

And so to another store I traveled on a quest for balsamic vinegar. At this point I was getting pretty hungry and when I got home I was glad to see the rest of the recipe was really easy. Process the walnut meat, put it in romaine, and top with cherry tomatoes, avocado, and lime. I even sprinkled it with a bit of black lava salt assuming that Beyoncé only uses artisanal salt and snapped a pic.

I was a bit nervous about eating these because they really didn’t look like any sort of taco I’m used to. Plus, after all that grocery shopping I was really hungry. But they were actually kind of good? And three was more than enough. I actually felt really sick afterwards and wanted a cookie, but otherwise, if you are looking to transition to a taco based diet from a raw food diet, this might be the taco that you are looking for.

Here is the recipe from Marco Borges the author of Beyoncé’s book The 22 Day Revolution reprinted from the Courier Journal

Beyoncé’s vegan walnut tacos

Taco “meat” ingredients

2 cups walnuts
1 1/2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon coconut aminos
dash paprika
dash garlic powder
dash black ground pepper

Garnish ingredients
2 heads of romaine lettuce
2 Haas avocados
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, each cut in half
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
pinch black ground pepper
pinch sea salt
1 fresh lime, squeezed

Wash and drain the lettuce and tomatoes and set aside. Combine all taco meat ingredients in a food processor. Pulse several times until crumbly, making sure not to over blend. Spread the walnut taco “meat” on the romaine leaves in 4 equal servings. Slice the avocados in half and remove the pits. Peel away the skin and dice into small, even pieces. Garnish the walnut taco meat with the vegetables, salt, pepper, and lime juice

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Cool Taco Product: The Taco Truck Taco Holder

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tacotruck

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Today’s Cool Taco Product is the Taco Truck taco holder by Fred & Friends. The box comes with two trucks, one “Salsa Red” and one “Guacamole Green.” Each truck holds two tacos. This looks like a fun way to get your kids to eat more tacos (no more silly airplane spoons) and would be the hit of your next Taco Party!

tacotruck2

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It looks like these trucks are made for crunchy shell tacos, which seem to be popular everywhere except Austin. Someone should try to use them with “soft” taco shells (aka tortillas) and report back to us your findings. For science. Even if they must be used with crunchy shells, they still look like lots of fun.

tacotruck3

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*We were not asked to review this product, nor have received any compensation to do so. The photos above link to an affiliate page, but you can also find this cute truck on the Manufacturer’s Site.

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7 Twists on the Traditional Margarita

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It’s National Tequila Day, which means we all need to up our margarita game today. The classic margarita is made with just tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. But don’t let any food purists keep you from mixing things up.

margarita

Photo by Quinn Dombrowsky

So celebrate this very special day with one of these 7 innovative margaritas.

Spicy Cucumber Margarita from Gimme Some Oven
These are inspired by all the cucumber margaritas in Austin (our favorite is at Vivo), so you know they’re awesome.

Fresh Cantaloupe Margarita from Serious Eats.
Cantaloupe pretty much makes this a smoothie, so feel free to drink it at breakfast.

cantaloupe margarita

from Serious eats

Watermelon Margarita from Girl Chef
This one comes with margarita soaked watermelon balls. Heavenly. (Who else is noticing a summer produce trend here?)

Blue Margarita from Martha Stewart
If there’s one thing we all learn in childhood, it’s that blue isn’t just a color, it’s a flavor. And with the endorsement of Martha Stewart, these drinks are guaranteed to make you the most popular kid on the playground.

Margarita Sangria from Completely Delicious
This sangria is mixed in a pitcher. And no one says you have to share.

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from Serious Eats

Margarita Shandy from Serious Eats
For those of you not in the know, a shandy is lemonade (or sometimes sprite) mixed with beer. This recipe ups the ante by replacing the lemonade with the flavors of a margarita.

Margarita Popsicles from The Brewer and the Baker
This last one stretches the definition of margarita even more. But we’ve all heard how good stretching is for your body, so really.

 

 

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