“It’s been hell. When I went to city council I said, ‘I should have paid attention to my mother and married a rich man.’ I didn’t know making tacos would be so difficult.” ~ Maria Corbalan, Austin Texas entrepreneur and owner of Taco Xpress

Making tacos at home doesn’t have to be difficult and, if you ask the kids, they’re even fun. Think outside the shell, and you can even divest the refrigerator of a few leftovers, as we did a few days ago. Including a bean dish means it can be a nutritious Meatless Monday option. Tacos are what we make them!

The number of options you offer on your taco bar will vary by the number of people you have participating (the more the merrier!), but everyone who is old enough to build their own taco is old enough to help assemble the feast.

Last week, our table held mashed sweet potatoes, some Texas Caviar, chopped black olives, shredded lettuce, and some leftover seitan (Chinese wheat meat). The combination of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter makes the taco especially satisfying. While some enjoy the crunchy corn tortilla shells, it is also good to provide soft flour tortillas, or the option to simply create a tortilla-free salad.

A long time ago, before salsas came to dominate grocery store shelf space, we enjoyed thick, smooth taco sauces. Sometimes we get a little nostalgic for it, but the selections are limited, so we turned to our own resources and came away pleased. Who would have thought it could be this easy and, in the end, significantly less expensive?

Old Fashioned Taco Sauce
Makes about 1 ½ cups
Time: 3 minutes

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix, prepackaged
OR from page 110 in the Mosaic Meals cookbook
Cayenne or ground chipotle pepper to taste ( ¼ teaspoon makes it hot)

Stir the taco seasoning mix into the tomato sauce, then taste and add pepper to suit your preferences. Allow to rest at least 15 minutes before using so that the onions and garlic in the seasoning mix have time to rehydrate. If it isn’t thick enough to suit you (brands of sauces thicken differently), pour it into a saucepan and heat to simmer for a few minutes. The cornstarch in the seasoning mix will thicken it significantly.

Add some atmosphere to your taco party with a selection of music on instruments of ancient Mexico by Martin Espino.

“[But he said there was little political appetite now for changing Social Security, a top priority of the Bush administration.] It’s like asking Congress to eat a bowl of cold green peas, … They don’t want to do it.” ~ John Boehner, American politician, 61st Speaker of the House and 2nd in line for the presidency (1949 – )

When we were in Orlando, Florida, a few weeks ago, I stopped by the Dandelion Communitea Café for lunch one day. Included with the special of the day, they offered an amusing side dish, Whirled Peas Guacamole. Even Congress might like it.

Whirled Peas is a cross between a salsa and a hummus, but easier and sweeter, and it looks like guacamole. Above all else, it is a fun way to sneak a few extra bites of vegetables into our diet. We added the sesame tahini to give it more body, but leave it out if you prefer a lighter texture.

Note: The peas must be completely thawed otherwise the result will be something like a green pea sorbet. Maybe not a bad idea, but it isn’t the goal here today.

Whirled Green Pea Hummus (not Guacamole)
Makes 2 ½ cups
Time: 5 minutes

3 cups frozen green peas, completely thawed
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons sesame tahini (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

In a blender or food processor, combine the peas, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and tahini. Process on high until the mixture is very smooth, stopping to stir down as needed. Stir in the red onion and serve cold with pita bread or tortilla chips. If the kids seem to be overindulging, let them.

Party on!

“That would be cool if you could eat a good food with a bad food and the good food would cover for the bad food when it got to your stomach. Like you could eat a carrot with an onion ring and they would travel down to your stomach, then they would get there, and the carrot would say, It’s cool, he’s with me.” ~ Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian (1968 – 2005)

Not only are carrots good for us – think Vitamin A – but so are potassium rich parsnips, and leeks, with their supply of Vitamin K, Omega-3 fatty acids, and dietary fiber. They are filling and low in calories, so the help us maintain a healthy weight. These are among the very reasons why nutritionists encourage us to include more vegetables and fruits in our diets.

Here is a simple and light vegetable-based soup that is as kid-friendly as it is gourmet. The ginger offers an Asian influence, so it goes well as an appetizer course before a Chinese meal, or for lunch with some Herbed Croutons (page 109 in the Mosaic Meals cookbook) or a scoop of rice on top. To fancy it up in a simple way, just float a sprig of fresh rosemary along one side.

Including a potato will give the soup a milder, somewhat creamier flavor than if you prepare the soup without it. I find it is needed if I’m using a strong tasting broth, but not so much if my broth is weak. It seems that most organic vegetable broths list carrots and celery ahead of onions, rather than the other way around, making them somewhat sweeter and a little milder than the standard variety, and the carrot flavor stands out more.

Leeky Carrot-Parsnip Soup
Makes 6 cups
Time: 35 minutes

1 leek, green top removed
3 carrots
3 parsnips
1 medium potato (optional, see above)
½ teaspoon dried ground ginger
5 cups vegetable broth (mild flavor is better for this)

Cut the leek lengthwise, then into thin, half-moon slices. Place in a colander, rinse well, and allow to drain while preparing the remaining vegetables.

Peel the ginger and mince by hand or in a food processor. Scrub and thinly slice the carrots and parsnips. Peel the potato and cut into small dice, if using.

Place all the ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.

Mash the vegetables in the broth with a potato masher, or cool slightly and give it a whirl in the blender (in batches – hold the lid on!) to reach the degree of smoothness that you prefer. For those who aren’t fond of vegetables, the smoother the soup is, the less aware they will be of its ingredients.

“Well, you’d better wake up and smell the tortillas, bud. I never knew you knew anything about baseball.” ~ Rickey Henderson, Major League Baseball Left Fielder (1958 – )

The F word was flying around our house today. You know… “Fried!” But as it turns out, we were able to avoid being hit by it. Whew!

If you have ever ordered taquitos in a Mexican restaurant, you know that they are small corn tortillas wrapped around a little bit of anything and fried. Lovely little things. Some folks call them flautas, especially if they are made with flour tortillas, but they’re basically the same thing.

We were having company for dinner yesterday, serving Tortilla Soup Extraordinaria, Guacamole, Texas Caviar, and taquitos. For the taquito filling this time, we chose mashed sweet potatoes. Any mashed up leftovers that will stick together works fine, but the sweet potatoes are very healthy and especially easy.

Instead of frying the taquitos in corn oil, as is customary, we decided to brush them with olive oil and bake them in a hot oven. They come out nice and crispy, but with a lot less fat prepared this way.

Use this recipe if you have leftover sweet potatoes, or bake a fresh one in the microwave oven on high for about 5 minutes on one side, then flip it over and bake for a second 5 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes, until cool enough to handle, then proceed as directed. Remove the peel or leave it on as you prefer.

Sweet Potato Taquitos
Makes 20
Time: 30 minutes

1 baked sweet potato
1 roasted red pepper, diced (from a jar is fine)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (optional)
20 small white corn tortillas
Olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 425° F and brush or spray a baking sheet with olive oil.

Mash the sweet potato and stir in the red pepper, cumin, and chipotle pepper (if using).

Place a dry, non-stick skillet over medium heat. Doing this part is all about developing a rhythm, so don’t plan on having your attention divided by anything else.

Warm a tortilla in the skillet until soft and very pliable, about 30 seconds. Remove the tortilla from the skillet to a plate and add the second tortilla to the skillet. While the second tortilla is softening, place a slightly heaped tablespoon of the sweet potato mixture in a line across the first tortilla, about ¾ of the way down.

Roll into a tube and place on the greased baking sheet with the top edge of the tortilla down to prevent it from unrolling. (If the tortilla cracks when rolling, it is a sign that it was not softened long enough.) Repeat until all the sweet potato mixture has been used up.

Brush or spray the tops of the rolled tortillas with additional olive oil and place in the hot oven for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. The baked taquitos will not turn as dark brown as when fried, but they will still be very crispy and delicious looking. Serve while hot as a lunch, side dish, or appetizer.

“I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.” ~ D. H. Lawrence, English author and literary critic (1885-1930)

We don’t have to shred oranges or scrub the floor to cheer us up – some roasted fruit and chocolate will take care of our spirits just fine!

Baked apples are a classic, but in sticking to “what we’ve always done,” we’re missing out on some other tasty treats. Roasting peaches, bananas, or pears brings out the natural sweetness and buttery texture, and serving them hot in winter is as satisfying as a scoop of icy sorbet in summer.

Pears are good for us, full of Vitamin C to stimulate our immune systems and packed with the fiber that helps protect our bodies from the invasion of some cancers, and roasted pears count toward satisfying our resolution to eat more fruit!

NOTE: Fruit must be ripe before roasting; no amount of cooking will make them soft if they are hard to begin with. Ripe fruit yields to gentle pressure but isn’t mushy. Pears that are hard can be ripened by putting them in a paper bag with an apple or banana for a few days.

If your market doesn’t have blood oranges, just use regular oranges. We like the blood oranges because they are higher in antioxidants and are a little more tart in flavor.

Roasted Pears with Blood Orange Chocolate Sauce

Serves 4
Time: 5 minutes active + 30 minutes in the oven
1 blood orange (optional 2nd orange for garnish)
2 pears (leave skin on)
1 teaspoon buttery spread
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (garnish, optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Finely grate 1 teaspoon of the zest from one blood orange, then juice it. You should have about ¼ cup.

Wash pears and slice vertically into halves. Remove the cores with a spoon. Place cut side up in a baking dish. Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the baking dish to prevent sticking. Measure 1 teaspoon of the blood orange juice into the space left by removing the core on each pear half. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the zest, juice, and buttery spread together and heat on the stove or in the microwave oven until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips until melted. Place the mixture in the refrigerator to thicken slightly.

Remove the pears from the oven and place on individual plates. Drizzle the sauce over the pears. Garnish with chopped walnuts and slices of blood orange, if you wish. Serve warm.