Raw Tacos with Walnut Taco Meat and Cashew Sour Cream

I was shopping on Friday at McEwans Grocery at "Shops at Don Mills" in Toronto, which is a fancy grocery store with lots of unique items. They had an entire raw section with many pre-packaged lunches, including various zucchini noodle bowls with different sauces, raw lasagna, and desserts. Amongst the pre-packaged dishes were these taco wraps, similar to those that I've tried in the past at raw restaurants. Using these wraps, I attempted to prepare a raw taco dish at home myself. It was actually much easier to do than I expected!

I made Walnut Taco Meat as the primary filling for the tacos, as I've enjoyed it in the past at some raw food restaurants. It was extremely easy to make, using walnuts, soy sauce, olive oil and spices. Please do not over-do it with the food processor as your walnut taco meat could quickly turn to walnut butter! It only took a few whirls in the food processor to chop it up to a chunky consistency. For both the Walnut Taco Meat and the Cashew Sour Cream, I used recipes from the My New Roots blog. I did substitute regular soy sauce for the nama shoyu and in doing so, the recipe came out a little salty for my liking. I would recommend cutting back on the 2 tbsp soy sauce in the recipe to 1 tbsp if you are using regular soy sauce.

2 cups raw walnuts
2 Tbsp. nama shoyu (raw, unpasteurized soy sauce)
1/4 tsp. ground chipotle pepper
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Then, I prepared the Cashew Sour Cream. It was just as easy to make as the Walnut Taco Meat - I just threw some ingredients together in the food processor! Start by adding all of the ingredients together except the water. Then, add the water 1 tbsp at a time and process with each tablespoon, until it has reached the consistency that you like. I opted for a very thick paste, using only 4 tbsp of water. You might want it to look more like a dressing, so you might end up using all 10 tbsp.

1 cup raw cashews
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
10 Tbsp. water (approx.)

In each taco wrap, place some walnut taco meat, cashew sour cream, fresh salsa, or other toppings you may like. We put diced onions and chopped cabbage in our tacos. You might want to include guacamole, cilantro, peppers, or any other veggies that you like!

These were so delicious and I will definitely be making them again! It was also surprising how filling these tacos were - they made for a very substantial and nutritious meal. Hooray for being able to create restaurant-quality raw meals at home!

Lunch at The Naked Sprout in Burlington, Ontario

First of all, Happy 2012 everyone! I am so sorry that I have not posted for months! It seems as though I started posting nearly every day and was so excited to have my brand new vegan & healthy foods blog, and then life got a bit hectic and I just stopped posting all together! I have learned from this rookie mistake as I am sure so many people out there start blogs and quit writing in them quickly after - I need to pace myself a little bit better. I don't need to write in my blog every single day, but update it as often as I'd like!

Today, I went to the Naked Sprout with a friend of mine for lunch. It is a Vegan/Gluten-free restaurant in Burlington, Ontario with an extensive raw menu. In fact, about 2/3rds of the menu is raw with a selection of cooked items.  You can view their full menu at their website.  The Naked Sprout serves a selection of appetizers, pasta, wraps, salads, quinoa and rice bowls, pizza, and much more! From the website:

At The Naked Sprout, we aim to provide delicious, nutritious, vegan, plant-based meals (cooked and raw) to everyone. We aim to be organic wherever possible, support local farmers, protect our animals and our Mother Earth. By spreading the love of healthy eating and the vegan lifestyle, we hope to inspire everyone to transform themselves, their life and the world around them.

Of course, this is a mission statement that I fully support! For lunch, I got the "Twisted Tacos" made with soft shell carrot flax taco, guacamole, salsa fresco, sunflower taco meat, and cashew sour cream.  I also got the "Tropical Twist" smoothie with freshly squeezed orange juice, pineapple, mango, strawberry and raspberry.

Everything was absolutely delicious! You could tell that everything was freshly prepared with love and care. I will definitely be back...perhaps this weekend! Paul and I will be celebrating our seven-year anniversary on Saturday and he was quite jealous that I was going to this restaurant today. I brought him home some pasta from the restaurant as a treat! But, I think we will have to go to The Naked Sprout very soon together! It would be the perfect place to celebrate our anniversary since I quite enjoyed my meal today! Plus, it is easier to eat meat-free/dairy-free/egg-free at a restaurant that has an entirely vegan menu!