The Healthiest Store Bought (Processed Food) Grain Free, Corn Free, Preservative Free, Vegan Tacos!
So during the Full Blue Moon of last Wednesday I had an incredible craving for vegan rice and bean tacos... However I don't normally eat tacos, corn, rice or beans...or any spices for that matter! And I typically do my very best to stay away from packaged processed foods. I most definitely steer clear of preservatives such as citric acid which upsets my stomach. But the craving was immense... And had been going on for the past 2 days ever since I watched my friend eat a burrito bowl at Sun Cafe on Monday afternoon. I suppose I could have easily spent a ton of money buying freshly prepared vegan tacos at an expensive organic restaurant... but I didn't want to do that! Plus it was so early in the day that none of those restaurants were open yet anyway! So as I hungrily browsed the aisles of Whole Foods Wednesday morning, I began to attract all the perfect ingredients that would satisfy my desire for healthy-ish vegan tacos!
As usual I was very careful to read every ingredient on every package of food! I made sure that everything was grain free, corn free, wheat/ gluten free, preservative free (citric acid and absorbic acid free), nut free (although I do eat nuts), dairy free, free of bad oils (like canola oil and vegetable oil), sugar free (sugar gets snuck into processed foods a lot), soy free, pea protein free (pea protein could be bad for people with certain digestive disorder like IBS and sibo) and vegan!
So after diligently searching and reading every label on every container of food these are the best products I found to make my tacos with:
Siete Brand Grain Free Taco shells (cassava flour, cassava starch, avocado oil, pumpkin seed meal, pumpkin powder, psyllium husk powder, sea salt) I typically stay away from cassava but this was the best I could find at the moment! The avocado oil is a huge plus and one of the very few oils that I will ingest!
Siete Brand Vegan Refried Black Beans (water, organic black beans, avocado oil, sea salt, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, organic paprika) Avocado oil once again! I also love that this brand uses sea salt!
Truroots Brand Organic Sprouted Quinoa (to replace rice)
Green Mountain Gringo Brand All Natural Mild Salsa (ripe tomatoes, onions, tomatillos, apple cider vinegar, fresh pasilla peppers, cilantro, parsley, fresh jalapeno peppers, fresh garlic, sea salt, cumin) I would've preferred an organic brand... but all the organic brands included ingredients I didn't like such as citric acid and sugar!
Whole foods market (perishable) mild guacamole dip (avocado, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, kosher salt, ground black pepper) Once again organic would've been my preference but this was the freshest most unprocessed guacamole I could find at Whole Foods... and the only guacamole without preservatives like citric acid. It was a bit too spicy though! Next time I would opt for the non spicy guacamole sold at Erewhon Market.
And finally...Organic Lettuce (red leaf)...not processed at all!
The tacos were so delicious that my friend actually ate a bunch of them... and he never eats anything I cook! The next day I made tacos again but this time I used the Siete Brand Pinto Beans and corn free cassava flour soft tortillas that I found in the Whole Foods refrigerator made with only a few simple ingredients (cassava flour, coconut oil, sea salt and water?) and no preservatives. I forgot the name of the brand but they sell it at whole foods for $9.99 for 8 tortillas. Well, once again all the tortillas and all the tacos got devoured in one sitting by my friend and I! They were fabulously delicious!
I probably won't be eating this again for a very long time... Afterall, I only eat stuff like this once in a blue moon (literally)! I did have a reaction to the spices! I can't really eat spices! But I think it was worth it! So if you like tacos and you're trying to eat healthier, and not really cook... but just heat some stuff up quickly... I highly recommend using the brands I just mentioned! Enjoy!
Jennie H is a Reiki Master Energy Healer, Co-Founder of Self Saviorz Society California Non-Profit 501(c)(3), Poet, Author and Entertainer with goals to help raise the vibration and consciousness of humanity!
