gluten free taquito

 

Last night, I decided I wanted to make some more green chile sauce. I made it for the first time last weekend and it was a huge hit. I loved it, my friends loved it and my husband loved it. I made a double batch and it was more than enough to feed five people and have leftovers for a couple days. I wanted to make sure I had enough for a few days again, so I made another double batch. I really should have taken into consideration that I was feeding five people the first time because I now have so much I am literally going to have to put it on everything I eat until it's gone! But, I don't think that will be a problem. The above photo is what the sauce looks like before it gets all blended up. My husband said, "So it's basically a salad?" Well, I guess it could be seen that way. All of the ingredients are raw, so it's super easy to make, and also pretty inexpensive. I buy as much as I can from the bulk section, and I find that helpful in saving money. 

Here are the ingredients, pulled straight from Kathryn Budig's article on MindBodyGreen:

Green Chili Sauce (raw)

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 to 2 anaheim chilies  - start with one and add more as necessary to reach level of heat
1/4 cup + 2 T olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 + 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 tsp. red chili flakes
1/2 tsp. pepper

*seeded jalapeno may be substituted for Anaheim chilies

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. 
Chill and enjoy!

After the sauce was made, I needed something to put it on. I know this isn't the healthiest option, so excuse me, but it's what I felt like (plus it was really easy). Let me first explain to you my history with refried beans. 

I've been eating refried beans for about 8 years now. I never really had them as a kid, so I don't know where this obsession came from. I can remember sitting in the couch in my first apartment eating them straight out of the can, and eventually I graduated to heating them in the microwave. Years and years later, I took another leap and started heating them on the stove (once I realized how bad microwaves are). Refried beans were a staple in my diet for a very long time, a complete must-have in my cabinet at all times. In fact, when I had my friends over for dinner last weekend, one of them said, "Remember when you used to eat refried beans everyday?" Of course I remember, it wasn't that long ago. But I really have changed my eating habits immensely since I learned that I actually can cook, and not only that, but I also very much enjoy it. 

Another thing I should explain is that I am a creature of habit when it comes to the food I eat. I will eat a variation of the same thing every day for years. Some of the things I literally ate every single day for at least a couple years in the past include wheat thins, fettucine alfredo lean cuisines, refried beans and iceberg lettuce with Kraft sharp cheddar cheese crumbles (had to be that brand and kind specifically) and croutons with light ranch dressing. Now I realize that those things are not good for me, but can you see how someone with no real knowledge of actual healthy food could be duped? Well, as I very well know now, not all salads are healthy, and lean cuisines and other frozen meals are packed with chemicals. I still eat variations of the same thing every day, but those variations now include grains such as brown rice or quinoa with leafy greens and some sort of vegetable. All fresh and organic. 

I'm currently in this place of trying to get myself healthy. I wouldn't call myself unhealthy, I'm really just trying to get everything in my body working its best. In the past month, I have given up coffee. Holy wow, that's something I never thought I would do, but somehow I don't miss it. When I was working with Hema in LA, we drank tea with almond milk every day and I enjoyed it so much that I brought the tradition home with me. There was one day in LA that I had an Americano (black, as I drink them), but I actually felt better when I drank only tea. I still do caffeine, Earl Grey is my favorite, but I only have one cup (sometimes two) and only in the morning. After noon I switch to decaf or caffeine free. My husband also nixed coffee in favor of tea, so that makes it a really easy change to stick with. Also, after battling digestive issues, I have decided to slash my gluten intake back to nearly none at all. That's one that my cheese pizza and french bread loving husband won't give up, so we still have it in the house. I do, however, feel a lot better when I eat gluten-free, dairy-free food. Which brings me back to last night's dinner- a gluten free, dairy free taquito with green chile sauce.

I used a brown rice wrap from Trader Joe's. I laid it flat and used the back of a spoon to spread a thin layer of my beloved refried beans all over its surface. Make sure it's a thin layer, unless you want a really fat taquito. From there, I put a very small amount of olive oil in a pan and let it heat up. The I laid my glorious little bean pie in the pan, beans up. I gave it just a few minutes to get warm, then I slid it off onto a plate and rolled it up. It was like a magnificent little bean swirl. I dipped it in green chile sauce and loved every bite.

I realize that this blog has been more about food and less about yoga recently, but that's just where I'm at right now. Healthy food and yoga go together so nicely. Everything I post about is so simple, but I post it because I realize there must be other people out there who want to be healthy, but just aren't quite sure where to start. This is why I fell in love so hard with green smoothies, because they're healthy and delicious but I didn't have to cook anything! Just wash everything, toss it in a blender, press a button and voila! The food I make is so simple and tasty and I hope I've inspired you to try it!