Move over beef, chicken and fish. There’s another protein player in the taco arena and it’s quinoa. It has all of amino acids that meat has, sans the fat. These tacos are loaded with a light, refreshing cilantro pesto and fresh veggies. Top it off with a couple slices of meaty avocado and you have a hearty low-sodium, vegan and gluten-free meal ready in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 tomato – diced
1 red pepper – diced
1 cup sweet corn – fresh or frozen
2 green onions – thinly sliced
1 large jalapeno – diced (ribs and seeds removed)
1 Haas avocado – cut into 16+ slices
8 corn tortillas
½ teaspoon salt
garnishes – chopped cilantro and sliced green onions
Pesto Ingredients
4 cups roughly chopped cilantro – firmly packed
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Directions
- Place the quinoa in a sauce pan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, chop the tomato, red pepper, jalapeno and green onions.
- After the quinoa is cooked, stir in the tomato, red pepper, corn, jalapeno and salt. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Place all pesto ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
- To serve, you have the option of placing the quinoa/vegetable mixture on the taco and topping with a dollop or two or cilantro pesto, or you can stir all of the pesto directly into the quinoa/vegetable mixture.
- Top with avocado slices, chopped cilantro and sliced green onions.
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