It is (Vegan) Taco Tuesday!

Hope everyone had a great week!

I have a great easy meal that takes only minutes to prepare and is sure to be a hit with the entire family. It contains one of the most versatile ingredients I have found which is canned jackfruit.

What is jackfruit? Jackfruit is an exotic fruit which many people consider to be an excellent vegan or vegetarian meat substitute based on it's texture which is similar to that of pulled meat. It is perfect as a filling for sandwiches or tacos as a filling and resembles pulled pork. Since jackfruit doesn't have a strong flavor on it's own, I like to marinade it in BBQ sauce to give it a burst of flavor. I have not yet experimented with the actual fruit itself but I am a huge fan of the canned variety that is sold at Trader Joe's.

If you are anything like like me, I love recipes that can be used as a basis for multiple meals, which is why I am doing the jackfruit tacos today. I find that different kinds of bean salads are a staple for me. I can eat them any time of the day, alone or added in a green salad. I also find if it is portioned out, it will get eaten.

Jackfruit Tacos

1 Can of Jackfruit in brine
Drain and put in a covered container with your favorite BBQ sauce and left marinate while you prepare your toppings. (I broke the pieces apart to give it a shredded appearance)

To top my tacos, I am making a black bean and corn salsa.

I used:

1 Can of corn
1 Large can of black beans ( I am using a large can since I like to use the leftovers to make a bean salad)
1 Red pepper ( you can use green if that is what you have on hand)
2 Stalks of celery
Cilantro
Tomato ( which I added to the portion that I am using to top my tacos)
Salt and pepper

After preparing my salsa, I sauteed the jackfruit for about 10 minutes, I this point all the BBQ sauce had worked its way into the jackfruit and it looked exactly like pulled pork, I filled a hard shell taco with this mixture and topped with the salsa. This would also be great as a wrap. A quick, easy meal that was absolutely delicious. You can use the rest of the beans and corn salsa to create a bean salad and use the remaining jackfruit over a creamy polenta or use them both to create an amazing nacho dish to snack on. The possibilities are endless.



I wanted to share some thoughts with you all this week on the topic of making yourself a priority.
How many times have you agreed to do something that you really didn't want to do? Maybe it was something major or just a minor thing. Either way it was something you didn't really want to do. So why would we do something we didn't want to? I guess it goes back to wanting to be liked. We all want everyone to like us so we want to please people and therefore agree to do things we really don't want to do. For many years this was a perfect description of me. I tried to make everyone around me happy but in reality I was the only one that wasn't happy. Over the years this has changed, it is ok to say no. A simple concept but sometimes very difficult to do. Once I realized it was ok to have an opinion. It was ok not to do everything that everyone wanted me to do. It was ok to put myself first. It may be hard for some people to understand why you are suddenly saying no but that is their issue not yours. I started finding myself becoming bitter, resentful and I felt like I was being taken advantage of. This was no one's fault but my own insecurity of wanting to be liked. If you find yourself in this space, remember you are the one who determines what you want to to do, no one else has this power unless you give it to them!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week. Remember to keep celebrating the little things in life so jot them down and put them in your gratitude jar.

And for all you animal lovers out there, please adopt, don't shop!!!

With Gratitude,


Trudy