Every season I gravitate towards one item. Some summers it’s been zucchini while others it’s tomatoes. This year, I’ve been a sweet corn fiend. Sweet corn has been my go-to salad topping, filler for grain bowls and now this sweet corn pasta.
I love using soft cheeses as a cheater way to make a sauce. The goat cheese in this sweet corn pasta dish creates a silky sauce that isn’t overpowering. However, and this is especially true if you stick to the whole wheat pasta, plan on no leftovers. If the pasta is allowed to sit, all the sauce soaks in and you’re left with some dry pasta!
In the grand scheme of summer produce, green beans may be low on your list. I know for me, I’d often pick up a pound or two to have as a quick side along veg burgers. Or, I’d come home from the CSA with a sizable haul and would have no clue what do to with them. I assure you though, green beans make a really nice star of a recipe.
While these green bean spring rolls are a favorite of mine, I’ve also been eating quite a bit of this green bean egg skillet. Just recently I jazzed the skillet up with peppers and soy sauce mixture. Green beans are an easy grab from the market and I encourage to try a recipe showcasing their fresh summer flavor.
Speaking of these spring rolls, I wanted to mention the peppers I used. If you’ve been following along on my instagram, you might have noticed some red peppers I picked up from the market Saturday. I’m not a big fan of bell peppers and much prefer the Italian variety. I always grow green Italian peppers every summer and these red ones are a variety called Jimmy Nardello. They are a sweet pepper, fry and roast well, and I think have a nicer flavor than the red bell peppers.
(Also- if you’re not following me on instagram, you’re missing out! I’ve started sharing my #naturallylunch on a regular basis. Good non-recipe inspiration!)
Recipe originally posted on August 8th, 2012. Last updated August 16th, 2015.
On occasion I daydream about the most random things. Somtimes I take to daydreaming about owning a traveling food truck and venturing out across the United States. (I also suppose I have Sarah and Melissa to thank for starting me down this path as they both graciously offered up their driveways as parking spots for me). While the food truck isn’t really a reality (nor would I want to incur the cost of a traveling truck), it’s still fun to daydream.
I dream of crispy, wood-fire pizzas (this truck makes that possible), fresh spring rolls using ingredients from whatever state I happen to be in, delicious curries (because sometimes I crave curry), freshly baked cinnamon rolls (I need something not healthy) and tacos, like every day.
Even though I won’t have a food truck anytime soon so you can try these delicious vegetarian tacos first hand, I made you more tacos (because you can never have enough taco recipes.)
This time I just packed them full of cumin-spiced roasted vegetables and called them good. No grains, no beans, just summer veg goodness. Don’t freak out at the long ingredient list, it’s mainly because I used whatever I had in my kitchen. If you used zucchini and sweet corn you would still have one heck of a delicious taco.
Oh and let us not forget the avocado (really essential to any excellent vegetarian taco.)
Pairings for Vegetarian Tacos
While I recommend you can add beans to these tacos, I actually love to get my protein from the side dishes. I almost always have a rice/bean combo on the side and let the vegetables stand on their own. These summer vegetarian tacos are a good kitchen-sink recipe for when you don’t know what to make but have a bounty of produce.
Appetizer: Chips and Salsa! I love this Roasted Salsa Verde (and old recipe, but a good one!) Or, you could try your hand at a fermented salsa.
Preheat oven to 400˚. Prepare all the veggies as described and toss with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and cumin. Roast until tender and lightly browning, 20 to 25 minutes.
While veggies are roasting, whip together avocado, greek yogurt, cilantro, and lime juice either by hand or in a blender.
To assemble tacos, warm up tortillas over an open flame or on a heated griddle. Assemble with roasted veggies, avocado cream, and a sprinkle of feta.
Notes
If you want a bit of protein, black beans or chickpeas would make an excellent addition to this meal!
If there’s one thing that might be apparent, we have a slight addition to peanut butter and chocolate in our household. I’m more of a 3 parts chocolate to one part peanut butter ratio while M is the exact opposite: a lot of peanut butter with just enough chocolate to be noticed.
During pregnancy, these no-bake cookies (minus the espresso) were pretty much my life saver when I was craving something chocolatey. However, I wanted to make something that was a little more easy to keep and freeze (and a bit more along M’s line of acceptable peanut butter to chocolate ratio). These granola bars are a culmination of granola bar recipes of past, no bake cookies, and a rice puff treat from a local co-op that’s base is peanut butter and brown rice syrup. The result is this bar that comes together easily, isn’t overly sweet, and can easily act as a satisfying dessert.
Recipe originally posted on August 8th, 2012. Last updated August 16th, 2015.
