Did you know that you can hide vegetables in tacos? Me neither. That is until I decided to get creative one night.
For quite some time I’ve added riced cauliflower to anything with ground meat. This does a couple of things. First off it it bulks up the recipe. We buy our meat in bulk from a local farm, 1/2 a pig and 1/4 of a cow. The ground meat comes in 1 lb. packages. That’s not enough for us in most cases so bulking it up with the cauliflower cuts down on the meat consumption as well as cost. Second, it adds more vegetables to our meals. I buy the riced cauliflower from Costco. It’s just too convenient and always have it in the freezer.
I do brown the meat first just in case there is grease to drain. Most of the time there isn’t anything to drain but just in case there is a little I don’t want to drain any nutrients from the cauliflower. I’m assuming that’s what would happen anyway, I’m not a chef or nutritional expert! Once the meat is browned I add in the cauliflower and cook a few minutes longer until it’s tender.
For the liquid in the tacos I add a can of Organic Diced Tomato from Costco. All of a sudden JP has decided that he doesn’t like ‘red things’ in his tacos. As I got out my mason jar and immersion blender I decided to throw in some other vegetables and give it a shot. I usually have mushrooms, peppers and spinach (or power greens) so I threw some in the mason jar.
I love my pink immersion blender. I looked for one that has the bottom/blade portion that came off for easy cleaning. The old one we had was 1 piece so it was hand wash and a pain. I also love the pink…it’s the little things that make a person happy! Here are a couple of places you can get it for a rather inexpensive price.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Once the vegetables are pureed add them to the pan and simmer. You can customize here a little, the longer it simmers, the more the liquid goes away so if you don’t want it runny then just let it simmer for a little longer.
I typically don’t add the taco seasoning until it’s simmered for a little bit because JP doesn’t like it spicy. I add a little then pull some out to the side and add more seasoning for us. You can then top with whatever other toppings you like on tacos such as cheese or avocado.
Lisa's Hidden Vegetable Taco
A sneaky way to hide vegetables in a kid friendly meal.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground meat (venison, grass fed beef, turkey)
- 1 cup frozen riced cauliflower (can also make your own from a fresh head)
- 1 14.5 oz can organic diced tomato
- 1 handful of greens (spinach, kale)
- 1/4 – 1/2 chopped bell pepper
- 3-5 chopped mushrooms
- taco seasoning (I DIY my own with the linked recipe and made a large batch to keep in a glass container)
- taco topping of choice, cheese, avocado, salsa
- taco shell of choice or bed of greens for taco salad
Directions
- Brown ground meat.
- While meat is cooking add canned tomato and whatever veggies you are hiding into a mason jar or other tall and narrow bowl. Use the immersion blender to puree.
- Drain any grease from meat if there is any.
- Add the riced cauliflower to the meat and cook for a few minutes until cauliflower is heated through. I’ve never measured I just add until it looks right so go by your family’s tastes.
- Add tomato puree to meat.
- Add taco seasoning. With my DIY recipe I make a large batch to keep and don’t measure what I put in, start small and add to your liking.
- Simmer until consistency and taste is to your liking.
- Build your taco or taco salad as you like.
Enjoy your healthy meal!
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