ColumnWhat fuels our desire to combine food and business.

It was only a matter of time before a small-town Airstream food truck opportunity that involved tacos crossed my path. No, really.

Over a sunny, Saturday morning coffee in Salida, Colorado this weekend, the conversation was going a little something like this:

“We need someone to get the Airstream taco truck going. We already have the Airstream and the space. You ladies in?” Annie, a go-getter, mountain biking bad ass asked us hopefully, in the kind of voice that you know someone is trying to insist on something really hard.

My friend Megan and I looked at each other. We both have jobs, and love our urban friends and living spaces, but I could see the wheels turning in her head thinking about all it would take to make this a possibility. How often are you propositioned with opening a food venture in a small town that several of your friends live in? Not every day.

Let me back up a little.

Food is a constant theme between a close group of friends of mine. New Years was devoted to the overconsumption of tacos in Baja, Mexico, the following winter months sharing recipes and the warmer spring days catching up over outdoor weekend brunches.

We’re spread out, two of us in Portland and others in Colorado. The geographic distance between us has lead to plenty of emails, group texts (often with food photos) and Skype chats, the former being exactly how I first found out about the Airstream.

“I have an idea to run by you,” my friend Beda kicked off one weekend call.

“Yes…” I responded, knowing fully well that anytime Beda has an idea it’s going to be a good one.

“So we’re thinking of starting a taco truck in Salida, because there’s no good place to get a burrito! And it would be in an Airstream,” she continued.

At this point we launched into the logistics of running a food establishment – logistics that neither of us have any experience in – and whether or not it was possible.

“And then you could move down here and run it!” she said.

I laughed and we left things at that.

Flash forward to five months later when myself and my fellow Portland foodie urbanite – yes, we eat sea salt with everything – Megan were drinking coffee with the Salida crew that we had come to visit.

“So, that food truck… we need someone to run it. We already have the wine tasting room and the distillery on board, and the space is right next to the new bike shop. You could serve locally roasted coffee, and breakfast burritos to all the skiers in the winter. You ladies want to move down here and take on the project?” Annie was all over this.

Wine, bikes and tacos? My heart skipped a beat.

These are all things that have become ubiquitous with urban food hot spots, you can barely walk five blocks in Portland, San Francisco or Brooklyn without coming across an off-the-cuff food operation, be it a food truck, a waffle window or a refurbished storage container that sells local food. But rural Colorado where there’s a good mix of mountain bikers, cowboys, river guides and four wheel truck drivers, is something different. On the other hand, isn’t this where free range local beef and real artisan goat cheese is just down the road? Good food abounds even if it’s not drizzled in truffle oil (although if you’re ever in Salida, be sure to try the truffle oil fries at The Fritz).

Can’t you envision an Airstream parked here serving up homemade tacos and burritos?

What is it about a food venture that is so appealing?

“You should open a restaurant!” is a common phrase heard at dinner parties when someone cooks a delicious meal, and who hasn’t had romantic visions of starting a brewery where you can serve local food and craft beer? Grab coffee at a quaint cafe with art on the walls and local bands playing at night while you’re on vacation and you’ll soon find yourself thinking, “we should have something like that here,” as soon as you return home.

Food is primal, and providing our communities with a chance to enjoy it is appealing. Seductive even.

There is of course the reality, and at the back of my mind I always hear my mother saying, “you don’t want to run a restaurant, you need balance.” Mothers like to give that kind of advice, especially if they know you well. There is no denying that a job in the food industry is a stressful and time consuming one. But it’s also rewarding.

Making food is making sustenance, and turning it into an art in the process. It’s about providing people with a place to eat, but also a place to appreciate good food and the community around them, all things that even those of us sitting around drinking coffee and discussing the potential business venture, without any restaurant or food truck management experience under our belts, are passionate about.

I am by no means trying to over-romanticize the everyday logistics that go into such a project, or even say that I would be willing to commit to it.

Run a restaurant and you need to put food on the table. Every. Single. Day. Or at least every single day you commit to being open. You also have to do fun jobs like inventory, permitting and clean-up. But at the end of the day, you’re still running a business that’s all about food. Shouldn’t everything we do in life be a labor of love? And what requires more love than good food?

We may not all launch a restaurant, but plenty of people out there are passionate about what they eat and drink and pursuing successful business ventures, from baking to support nonprofits, to hosting local farm-to-table tours, to roasting specialty coffee and delivering it on a bike. There is a reward in giving back to a community that you can’t put a dollar value to, and what better way to do so than through food and drink?

It might be a stretch to say “change the world one food truck at a time” but if in doing so we are creating a better conversation around food, what’s to say that this isn’t the tipping point? We all need to eat, and if we can have affordable and equitable access to a healthy product, the faster we can influence a path to positive change in the realm of food politics.

Airstream taco truck in Salida, Colorado? Who knows. But the seed has been planted, and at the very least, it’s fun to dream.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Who Wants to Launch an Airstream Taco Truck? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Putting a spin on the classic Mexican street food.

If you don’t have a taco obsession, you’re doing something wrong in the kitchen. Quick and simple, and also versatile for a variety of dietary preferences, tacos are one of the easiest dishes to get creative with. Here are three supercharged, healthy variations on the taco theme to get the culinary juices flowing and please any kind of eater, from vegans to pescatarians.

Note: All of these recipes make 4-6 tacos, are completely interchangeable with whatever protein you want to throw in, and should be served on warm corn tortillas.

Cornmeal Crusted Fish Tacos with Roasted Radicchio and Pineapple

Cornmeal is an easy way to get a crunchy taste to fish tacos without deep-frying. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of Pacific Halibut, Wild Caught (you can use any other whitefish, but make sure you’re going with a sustainable option), cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 cup chopped pineapple
• 1 cup chopped radicchio
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 avocado, chopped into small pieces
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil for frying

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Mix cornmeal and spices in a bowl. Add in fish and mix until fish is well coated.

In a separate bowl, combine radicchio, pineapple and lime juice. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast for 5-10 minutes.

While radicchio and pineapple are in oven, fry the fish at medium/high heat. About 4-6 minutes.

Layer fish, radicchio and pineapple onto corn tortillas and garnish with avocado.

Vegetarian Kale and Portobello Tacos with Goat Cheese

Inspired by a trip to Mexico, these vegetarian tacos are total foodie pleasers.

Ingredients

• 2 portobello mushrooms, cut into strips
• 6 stalks of red kale, cut into small pieces
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Goat cheese for garnish

Directions:

Place portobello strips in a bowl and pour over balsamic vinegar. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

In a frying pan, saute mushrooms until they are soft, about 3 minutes. Add in kale and cook until tender.

Vegan Tacos with Red Cabbage and Avocado Slaw

Ideal with tempeh, or any protein of your choice, this slaw brings a fresh taste to your tacos.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of large cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

Combine olive oil, cider vinegar, vinegar, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

In a bowl, mix together cabbage and avocado. Drizzle over dressing and gently toss.

Use with tempeh tacos or other protein of your choice.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Three Healthy Taco Variations You Can’t Live Without appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnInside the intriguing world of a foodie.

Monday February 27, 2012, 8:55 p.m.

Dear Diary,

A serendipitous afternoon today. Having left my kale slaw with Meyer lemon vinaigrette at home, I was forced to buy lunch, so I went over to the food carts. Why the pickle cart is still in business is beyond me, but I went for three fish tacos next door. I started talking with the guy in front of me, who ordered the avocado and cactus burrito (his first point, given that the cactus burrito is my second go-to after the fish tacos). He told me he comes here a lot. He was cute, had a coffee thermos under his arm, looked like he had his life together. He told me the best taco he ever ate was in Austin. Second point for him – he loves the Austin food cart scene too! I think we had a good connection. We’ll see what happens.

Wednesday February 29, 2012, 10:26 p.m.

Dear Diary,

I left my lunch at home again. Food carts it is. But Mr. Cactus wasn’t there. The guy serving the wood-fired pizza asked me if I wanted an extra serving of arugula on my portobello and chevre pizza. I said yes, of course. Who passes up extra arugula? I did an Instagram photo series with the pizza. Greens are so beautiful and photogenic. Maybe I should start a blog focused just on greens. Yes, I should.

Friday March 2, 2012, 9:57 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Okay, so still haven’t been able to track down Mr. Cactus, but since I have been to the food carts every day this week, I’ve been trying out some new ones, which of course has led to the new obsession with the creme brulée cart. French dessert in a food cart? Yes, please. Why don’t they have one with cardamom in it, though? The chocolate one is so overrated.

I took more photos for the Greens Blog today. Had good wilted chard salad at & last night, but realized that I had forgotten my Moleskine so I couldn’t write down the exact name for the dish and when I checked their website this morning they had already changed their daily menu offerings. But it had to have been a combination of chard, ginger and anise. There had to have been anise. Why is anise on every menu these days?

Monday March 5, 2012, 8:32 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Forgetting Mr. Cactus. I’m sure he hasn’t even been to Austin. In better news, I did get a kitchen torch on Sunday. Thinking that I should try my hand at creme brulee this weekend for Supper Club. Just need to get some ramekins.

Thursday March 8, 2012, 6:26 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Did you know you can make creme brulée with purple sweet potatoes? I think I am going to do one with olive oil and sea salt. Keep things easy. I wonder if there is a site devoted to olive oil and sea salt? I should start one. Speaking of which, I haven’t had any time to work on the Greens Blog, but I did eat some good kale chips yesterday.

Saturday March 10, 2012, 7:45 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Epic disaster. I burned the creme brulée – blaming it on the caliber of the kitchen torch, must ask for a nicer one for my birthday – and of course there was no time to make a new batch. Obviously couldn’t show up to Supper Club with nothing in hand, so here I am on my couch instead, alone with a glass of wine working on the Greens Blog. It’s probably better to spend a Saturday night at home being productive anyway. And I get to enjoy this entire bottle of local, organic Pinot by myself.

Sunday March 11, 2012, 10:46 a.m.

Dear Diary,

I woke up and the kitchen was full of three kinds of kale chips. Apparently I went on a Pinot induced cooking rage. Molly wondered why I didn’t make it to Supper Club. I told her I had a family emergency.

Went on an afternoon walk to get some coffee, and the obnoxious barista had the audacity to glare at me. What? Sometimes I don’t want pour-over coffee made with a ceramic filter. Ugh. This city can be so snobby when it comes to food. Fortunately on my way home I came across a free box full of mason jars! Can’t wait to put those to use. Thinking I should make a fig cardamom whiskey. Maybe I could pitch that recipe to Saveur.

Tuesday March 13, 2012, 7:20 a.m.

Dear Diary,

Out of chia seeds for my green smoothie this morning. Flax oil had to suffice. Green smoothie is definitely going on the Greens Blog. I bought the domain today, which means it’s official. Now I just need to get a few Pinterest boards started.

Tuesday March 20, 2012, 7:18 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Ack! I haven’t written in a week. The Greens Blog has taken over my life. I took Friday off of work just to spend some time on the design. Fortunately the girls and I all went to Food & Drink on Friday for bottomless mussels and bubbly. I admitted that I didn’t really have a family emergency. Molly wanted the recipe for the cumin kale chips. I told them about Mr. Cactus. Why hasn’t he been at the food carts lately?

Saturday March 24, 2012, 9:20 a.m.

Dear Diary,

I think I am going to ditch the Greens Blog idea. It’s too narrow. I think I am going to focus on a coffee subject instead, inspired by the set of white porcelain mugs that I painted with chalkboard paint this morning. Now I can write the roast of coffee on the cup with chalk so I know what I’m drinking. I posted a photo of them on Facebook and everyone loved them. I should host a brunch with them tomorrow. Yes, brunch.  I could make some anise hazelnut scones.

Saturday March 24, 2012, 3:30 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Oh god, I ran into Mr. Cactus at the grocery store and he had a box of cupcakes from the bakery department. Oh god. Cupcakes!! What man buys cupcakes? I bet he doesn’t even know how to make his own salad dressing. Has he even read Omnivore’s Dilemma? I bet those cupcakes aren’t even made with real sugar as they’re probably full of high fructose corn syrup. He did ask me if I had eaten any good tacos lately, but I don’t know if I am interested anymore. People just have no taste.

At least I have this brunch to fall back on. Must go put the star anise in vodka now so that it has 12+ hours to sit and be infused enough to throw in the scones tomorrow. If only more people had an appreciation for what’s good in life.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: The Secret Diary of a Foodie appeared first on EcoSalon.

Tacos in Austin for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Damn straight.

While there’s no denying the appeal of the Doritos Taco™ at 2 am on a Thursday, it’s a decision that requires the cover of night, a lack of viable choices, and oftentimes the ingestion of mind-altering substances to justify the purchase – especially in Austin. Here, taco connoisseurship and a love of all things local, organic, and independent are aggressively cultivated. Tacos are an art form, with permutations ranging from the traditional al Pastor found at parking lot trailers on the east side, gourmet Korean and Vietnamese fusions on the west side, to the organic, vegan, locally sourced fare that unites two of Austin’s most vocal demographics: hippies and yuppies.
In honor of this Texas food staple, I went and ate a bunch of tacos, trying to find both the best as well as those made with locally sourced and/or organic ingredients. The assessments:
Breakfast

Tacodeli’s Breakfast Tacos

The breakfast taco is a Texas classic and Tacodeli’s versions, using organic and local ingredients sourced year round from Texas and community farms, consistently earns accolades and “Best Of” lists. The organic bean, cheese, and egg tacos at Wheatsville, Austin’s co-op alternative to its more famous grocery export, will easily keep you full through lunch, and comes with an excellent Pico de Gallo. Veggie chorizo tacos topped with alfalfa sprouts are the way to go at Mr. Natural, a longtime Austin landmark, but their house salsa was unfortunately watery and had no kick.

Lunch +Dinner

Chango’s al Pueblo

Chango’s boasts natural, Texas-raised, and humanely certified meats in their repertoire. Yes, vegans, I know, but the beef tacos del pueblo are still delicious. Slightly charred on the outside and pink on the inside, they come wrapped in a handmade tortilla, with a heaping amount of cilantro and salsa on top. The vegetarian mushroom version is also tasty, but much less filling, so get two. El Chile’s soporific puffy tacos will likely make you pass out before the evening starts, but they’re a proven alternative to Xanax.

After-Hours

Be More Pacific’s Taco Libre

Even at 2 am in Austin, there’s really no excuse for eating terrible food, especially if you’re broing it up around 6th Street. Asian inspired taco trucks are the big trend, and make for excellent hangover preventatives. Be More Pacific’s Taco Libre, which combines chicken adobo and elote, are something that I actively pine for when away from Austin. The Peached Tortilla’s Banh Mi taco is an ode to Texas’s thriving Vietnamese community, with impressive results. For those who do insist on fast food alternatives, Taco Cabana – a Texas-based chain – boasts tacos assembled with house made tortillas, a prodigiously huge salsa bar, margaritas, and open 24 hours. No judgment if you happen to steal your roommate’s car to get there at 3 am.

Images: Dave_B, Anh-Thu Nguyen

The post When in Austin, Do As Texans Do (And Eat Good Tacos)! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Curating the very best reads weekly from our daily recommendation engine, We Heart This.

#doseofcute

Don’t Talk to the Baby Porcupine Before It Has Its Coffee

by Madeleine Davies at Jezebel

#stillprochoice

Obama on Roe vs. Wade

by Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky

#moresalsa

Tacos Are Good for Activism Too

by Cord Jefferson at GOOD

#thepaualdeenrevelation

What Chefs Are Really Eating

by Frank Bruni at the New York Times Sunday Review

#handdrawnlittleprince

It Is Only With the Heart One Can See Rightly

by Maria Popova at Brain Pickings

The post Activist Tacos, Little Princes and Coffee-Swigging Porcupines appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnBreakfast is in.

Any foodie-wise restaurant knows to wrap hors d’oeuvres, entrees and even the table rolls in bacon, but lately, eggs have been showing up to the dinner table at every opportunity. On pizzas, astride mashed potatoes, in ramen: This is much more than the classic Caesar salad preparation of soft-boiled egg beside dressed hearts of romaine. But it’s not just eggs and bacon. For better or for worse, breakfast is in.

In a stagnant economy and dismal state of global affairs, we’re in dire need of comfort food.

A waffle sandwich for lunch? Yes. A food truck that only serves up buttermilk creations? Certainly. Breakfast food isn’t the sexiest, but it’s cozy and warm, reminding us of a lazy Sunday brunch spent with friends or alone with the Times and the French press.

Are we really having a brinner love affair? If it’s an officially defined word on Urban Dictionary, the answer is “yes.”

(brin-ner) adj. breakfast eaten at the time in which you eat dinner.

But why? When it comes to food, most of us are obsessed with instant gratification, and fried eggs solve that problem far more quickly than a plate of artisanal cheese with fruit compote, let alone a a fennel emulsion. As Shawn LaPean, executive director of Cal Dining at the University of California- Berkeley says, “eating weird is the new normal.” Which means breakfast for dinner is just as marketable even in the upscale food world as foie gras bread pudding. (Some days, I think being a foodie is no more than a glorified version of our meat-and-potatoes humanity – fancified with pancetta and foccacia, or pork belly and polenta.)

Feel the need to get on the breakfast train? Here are five ways to bring home the bacon.

Waffles

Make them with sweet potatoes. Then make a sandwich. Or add chicken friend steak. Whatever you do, don’t serve them with maple syrup.

French Toast

Completely acceptable for dinner these days, as long as you use fancy bread. (But god forbid, no matter how tempting, please don’t prep it in a slow cooker.)

Pizza

Just put an egg on it. Or two.

Crepes

They’re French! And classy! As long as they’re made with buckwheat and not smeared in Nutella.

Pancakes

Like crepes, but not. If they’re fluffy and include a fancy dairy product (think: Ricotta) you can feel fine about eating them for dinner.

No matter how much you love breakfast – and if the restaurants of Brooklyn, San Francisco and Portland that are jam packed at 10 a.m. on a weekday morning are any indicator, most of us really do – proceed with caution. Replacing real meals with mashups of whatever-we-feel-like foods might have us running towards the brink of self-destruction. Breakfast for dinner (or lunch) is almost as bad as gourmet junk food, and if those trendy food carts and waffle windows don’t watch it, their culinary prowess just might risk the reputation of a Maple Bacon Sundae.

At least there’s always gourmet granola, with hemp milk, of course. Can someone just get me some real dinner, like a taco?

Oh, you want to serve them on a waffle? Even that is too underground for this columnist.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, manray3, jamieanne, rick, avlxyz, d.loop

The post Foodie Underground: Put an Egg On It appeared first on EcoSalon.

The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

We looked at 40 inspirational quotes on new beginnings…

…which you might need if you’re seeing any of these 10 signs a relationship is faltering.

A new year, a new food obsession – and Anna Brones suggests it should be tacos.

When the winter weather is playing havoc with your tresses, here’s how to fight back.

Finally, if you’re looking for a new green habit for the year, how about taking someone else’s trash in?

The post The Friday 5: New Beginnings appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnTravel lessons: Good food, from good places, with good people.

Only one day into a trip to Baja, Mexico, and my friend Megan and I had come up with our official “Taco Challenge.” (Because when you travel, you should always have a challenge.) This one involved eating at least one taco every day. Three days into the trip, and not only did we have another fellow traveler on board with the Taco Challenge, we were developing a full-blown taco ranking system. Based on a scale from 1 to 5, the taco eater was required to rate both the taco and the ambiance of where it was consumed. Such are the challenges when eating while traveling.

Travel and food go hand in hand. Why do you think there are so many destination specific foods topping the trend lists for 2012? Because food in itself is a form of travel, letting us explore no matter if we’re in the country of the food’s origin or thousands of miles away.

So let’s get back to Mexico.

The best tacos, as most anyone will tell you, are to be found at the simplest taquerias. Concrete floors, open walls, maybe even a grapefruit tree planted in the middle. There may be a TV in the background with a Spanish speaking sports announcer. Near the kitchen a man in an apron may be cutting charred pieces of pastor from the large vertical spit. There will be a centerpiece of freshly sliced cucumber and several bowls of salsa, and if you’re really lucky, you’ll even have a full toppings bar to choose from; Pickled onions, guacamole, cilantro, four kinds of salsa and fresh cabbage are standard. At this point, it’s impossible not to eat well.

When you travel, food can be best when it’s at its simplest form. Take away the stars, the fancy menus, and fancy décor and what are you left with? Food. Food that represents a local community and culture. So you forget about words like “organic” and “local” and “artisan,” because when it comes down to it, what’s on the plate in front of you represents something beyond that.

Later, we drive along the Pacific, and in between a taqueria and the beach, there is a basil farm. In an otherwise arid landscape with prickly cacti and desert rocks, there are also pockets of lush, verdant, farmland. The smell of basil seeps through the open car windows. There is an instant feel of being better connected to the land where food comes from. At home, the smell of basil is reserved for studio apartment windows and farmers markets. Here it’s simply part of the air.

But even Baja has an organic market. A glorious spread of food, art and music, tucked into a corner of San Jose del Cabo every single Saturday Market. There’s even artisan cheese at Mercado Organico, along with homemade bread and fresh vegetables in wooden crates.

And the organic portabello tacos, covered with a layer of herbs and cheese and grilled right in front of us? They get a 5.

There is an ongoing debate about the value of organic. Where does your organic come from? Because a farm doesn’t have the resources to get organic certification, does that mean their produce isn’t as good as the larger scale farm that’s mass producing organic lettuce? When we focus on simply one element of food we forget about all the rest: who grew it, how it was grown, where it was grown. Blindly choosing certified organic is a sign of not truly thinking about what we eat. It’s just as bad as choosing a restaurant simply because they serve up figs wrapped in bacon and pour their bourbon drinks into a mason jar.

Choosing food because you know where it comes from, and that it was made with intention, and not because the latest hip food blog told you to eat it is a different story. A quesadilla grilled on the beach, made with fresh tortillas and cheese beats an organic wheatgrass smoothie from the trustafarian owned juice shop any day. And a restaurant doesn’t have to be fancy, it just needs to serve up fresh food with a community feel. That’s the reminder we get when we travel, and the ideal that we should all embrace when it comes to food we make and eat at home.

Good food, from good places, with good people – if we can make that a 2012 food trend, we’ll be doing well. With or without tacos.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Travel and Tacos appeared first on EcoSalon.

Image: Zassle

I’ve hearted taco nights ever since hanging out at Wendy Klein’s house during those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer in the sweltering San Fernando Valley.

If Shirlee Klein announced tacos were for dinner, I’d saddle up to the bar at the kitchen table where bowls of shredded lettuce and cheese, chopped tomatoes and black olives were well within reach. I’d down about six crispy beef tacos and work ’em off playing ping-pong or night swimming in the illuminated kidney-shaped pool.

“One more taco for the road?” my hostess would inquire.

“You bet, Shirlee! I didn’t get this gut eating apples.”

My own girls also crave taco night at least once a week, so I try to vary the ingredients to keep ’em fresh – and healthy. Here are 5 ideas for nutritious, green, tasty fillers:

1. Baha Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

Watching your weight? No problemo! Fish is a great, low-fat protein for taco night, an ideal alternative to free range turkey or beef. This recipe from Organic Authority calls for cod fillets, corn tortillas and green or red cabbage, along with crumbled cotija cheese – all ingredients that keep taco night light! The salsa (make a batch and use it on other dishes) includes ripe mangos, cilantro, lime, red bell pepper, onions and zingy jalapeno. It’s hard to get away from battered fried fish in fish tacos, but I find grilling or broiling is the healthier way to go. Make sure to choose a sustainable fish variety, or better yet, grow your own right in the backyard.

Image: Organic Authority

2. Ground Turkey Tacos

We gobble up turkey tacos in my house, always using free range ground turkey meat (dark is actually better for tacos and not terribly fatty). You can mix the dark and light meat if you like, and this recipe from Fine Cooking measures out the seasonings so that you don’t have to resort to the packaged mixes containing MSG. The flavor comes from the chili powder, cumin, salt and fresh cilantro, and I love the addition of fresh avocado in this simple recipe. My kids prefer flour tortillas, so I shop for brands with the least amount of lard. The new organic varieties from the La Tortilla Factory are available in many markets.

Image: Fine cooking

3. Zucchini and Corn Tacos

Here is another great soft taco alternative to beef. This  Epicurious recipe is a delightful summer entree with a pleasing presentation. It is similar to the tostada, an open face salad on a tortilla shell, which some taco enthusiasts prefer to the folded hard shell. The tomatillo (green) salsa keeps it authentic, while the onion, zucchini, black beans and garlic keep it heart-smart. You can brown your tortillas on a griddle with a bit of olive oil or other beneficial fat instead of deep frying a massive shell.

Image: Yunhee Kim

4. Spiced Lentil Tacos

More kids (and grown-ups) are becoming vegetarians, which is why tacos are a primo choice. Taco bars are largely comprised of veggies, so go that route but omit the meat. This recipe from Epicurious uses dried brown lentils as the main ingredient, which are healthy and exotic. Veggie kids who eat beans (if they aren’t eating meat, they should!) will really enjoy it. Some Epicurious followers who have made this dish say the filler is so good, they eat it with brown rice as another meal option.

Image: Plamen Petkov

5. Slow-cooker Chili Chicken Tacos

EcoSalon has long sung the praises of slow cooking and the old crock pot is a great way to go when making tacos. The chicken (free range, organic of course) falls apart after a long, gentle simmer in the slow cooker, and this naturally works well for shredding the meat into tacos.  Garnish with plain yogurt instead of sour cream for even healthier results!

Image: Martha Stewart

The post Do You Heart Tacos? Ecosalon Recipes: 5 Green Ways to Shell ‘Em and Sell ‘Em at Your Table appeared first on EcoSalon.