Fool-Your-Friends Tacos

Tonight, I made Fool-Your-Friends Tacos from the Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food cookbook.  OK, these are VERY tasty!  I really liked them.  The only thing I think I would like to change is the Hickory Liquid Smoke in the TVP when it is rehydrating.  It adds a BBQ type flavor to the tacos that I don't think should be there.  Although, I'm not sure what to change it to.

The recipe calls for vegetable stock and liquid smoke to rehydrate the TVP.  Maybe the liquid smoke should be eliminated and 1 tablespoon of the taco seasoning mix should be added to the vegetable stock instead.  Then when the TVP is added to the onions and peppers and additional taco seasoning is added, it would all have the same flavor.  I could try 1 teaspoon of hot sauce, too.  That would give it a little kick.  Of course, I could use a milder green sauce for added flavor without a kick.  I'll have to experiment with it.

I used an orange bell pepper with the red onion.  (Red onion is actually purple, isn't it?)  It was very colorful and extremely fragrant while cooking.  The one thing that eating vegetarian/vegan has done is increased my appreciation of various vegetables and also my enjoyment while eating them. :)

I added the TVP, taco seasoning, and water and simmered the mixture until the taco seasoning was distributed and the additional water (1 tablespoon) was absorbed.  The cookbook has a recipe for taco seasoning, which I'll make at some point, but I used a Chipolte flavored mix I bought at the store tonight.  It complemented the other flavors very well.

I topped my tacos with chopped tomatoes (grape were all I had and they worked), shredded lettuce, and some hot sauce.  (Forgive my messy paper plate.  I was in a rush to try them and didn't pretty up the presentation for the picture like I should have.)  I did not use any cheese and frankly, I did not miss it.  These tacos are excellent.  While I may tweak them a bit to remove the hint of smoky BBQ in them, overall I was just delighted with them.  I'm normally a soft taco person, and next time I have them, I'll have soft shells.  However these were so good that I had to physically stop myself from eating more of them.  I'm going to make my sons try these as I just think they are so good, my sons will like them, too.  

Can you fool your friends with these tacos?  I'm thinking so.  I'm definitely thinking so and they are soooo much healthier than the meat alternative.  What's not to like?