We all have those ‘holy crap what am I going to feed my belly / child / guests / neighborhood bum for dinner’ moments right?

Post-Christmas feast this year our house was stocked to the gills with holiday cookies and snacks, but rather light on the wholesome dinner ingredients.  When I spied Adam’s AMAZING Christmas dinner wheat roast leftovers in the fridge (full of delicious rosemary flavor) I pounced on it and whipped us up some fantastic taco meat with it.

So yeah, I’m a self-professed TexMex junkie so most anything I plop on a tortilla makes me happy – but this wheat roast taco meat was something else.  I chopped up a little less than a half of the roast and put it in the food processor with garlic, onions and a spicy chili pepper.

What emerged was bizarrely ground beef like and browned up beautifully in the skillet with the accompanying veggies.  I had never considered using this particular roast recipe for anything but… well, a roast.  But now I foresee vast numbers of meals ahead in 2010 that will kick our standby seitan recipes out of the way.

So yeah, I get that giving you a how-to on making tacos might be insulting to your intelligence if you make them all the time like we do – but then again we all aren’t fortunate enough to live in Texas where the tacos are practically knee deep (hallelujah), so here we go:

Vegan Tacos with Spicy Ground Wheat Roast

1. Roughly chop your onion and wheat roast and put into food processor with your garlic, chili pepper and taco seasoning spice mix.
2. Pulse until your wheat roast is looking nice and ground.  I personally like having something to chew on, so keep a few large-but-still-small-ish pieces in there.
3. Heat up a pan and coat with some generous EVO drizzles.  Add your taco (un)meat mixture and diced tomatoes to your pan and saute your taco meat mixture for about 20 minutes, until your onions are soft and translucent.  If your pan gets a bit dry replenish with your remaining diced tomato juice (or water), keep your taco (un)meat nice and moist so it doesn’t feel like you’re .
4. Flavor is a big deal, so keep an eye on how things are shaping up – tasting en route to dinner is half the fun.  Add garlic salt, more spice, more heat as necessary.  Make it your’s, baby.
5. While your (un)meat is cooking, prep your taco condiments.  Part of the deliciousness is in the decorating of your taco, so dig around for some interesting veggies, seasonings and other stuff to try out.  Or just stay boring.  Whatever.  If you’re trying to avoid dairy, many grocers carry soy-based cheese and sour cream – we personally prefer Veggie Shreds as it melts better, but it does have some casein – a milk byproduct – for your vegans out there.
6. Heat up your tortillas wrapped in a towel in the microwave for 20 seconds – or if you have a tortilla pan, that works great too on the stove.
7. DECORATE BABY!  Start off sparingly with your taco (un)meat, as you’ll most likely have gobs of extra goodies to add on there.  Enjoy.