Raw Vegan Taco Salad—Rich in Omega 3 Fatty Acid

Day 26 of our “One Month Raw Food Cleanse”

I’ve been craving Mexican food and this hearty salad does the trick. It’s quick and easy and uses the heart healthy walnut “taco meat” used in the May 5th “Soft Taco” recipe and the “lime chia seed dressing” posted on April 9th. A single serving delivers 4.1 grams of omega 3 fatty acid in a perfect 4:1 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3.

As we wind down our one month raw food cleanse, you should go through the many healthy raw recipes I’ve posted over the past few months and continue to incorporate your favorites into your normal eating regimen. I think this one could become one of your favorites!

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Raw Vegan Taco Salad [serves 2]
1 small head of butter or red leaf lettuce, cleaned and torn into bite sized pieces

4 small tomatoes, cut into eighths
Kernels from 1 small ear of fresh corn
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 medium avocado, sliced
2/3 cup raw walnuts
2/3 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce
1 teaspoon chia seeds
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper

To make the dressing, combine the chia seeds with 2 T of water. Set aside until it forms a gel (about an hour). Once it gels, add cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
For the taco meat, put the walnuts, chili powder and Nama Shoyu in a food processor and briefly process until the mixture resembles taco meat. Do not over process.
Prepare the salad by combining the lettuce, tomatoes, corn and green onion. Dress the salad with the lime chia seed dressing and place on two large plates. Top each salad with half of the avocado slices and half of the taco meat. For a vegetarian version, add crumbled goat cheese.

Per serving: 474 calories, 39.2 g fat, 4.3 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 12.6 g protein, 29.2 g carbohydrates, 11.3 g fiber, 4.1 g omega 3 and 16.7 g omega 6 fatty acid.

Menu for Day 26
Breakfast is a smoothie with banana, pear, spinach, stevia, two brazil nuts and a teaspoon of vitamineral green. Lunch is faux “tuna fish salad” posted April 25, 2009 but instead of stuffing an heirloom tomato, I’m stuffing a red bell pepper half. I’ll snack on fruit and vegetable slices today since there are quite a few nuts and seeds in my meals. Dinner is the featured “taco salad” recipe. Dessert is watermelon.