Cleaning out the Fridge before a Vacation

 

June has been a busy month of travel! I promise I have some travel recaps ready for you all, but first here’s what I made BEFORE I went away.

For those of you who have been following my Facebook page, you may remember when I posted this picture:

The caption read: What do you do when you have a ton of vegetables left in your fridge before you go on vacation? 

So this is what I came up with:

Veggie Tacos!

We eat a lot of tacos in our household because they are quick, easy, and relatively healthy.  Usually we just make bean tacos or add some grilled chicken to the mix.  But since I had a ton of vegetables that would spoil while we were away, why not make veggie tacos?

So I chopped up zucchini, yellow squash, onion, bell peppers (one red and one green), grape tomatoes, and garlic, as you see in the lead photo (sans the garlic and onions – I chopped those after I took the photo).  I lightly sauteed all the vegetables (except for the grape tomatoes) in about 1 Tbs of olive over medium heat:

 

Once the vegetables were soft (about seven minutes), I added the grape tomatoes, a can of black beans (drained and rinsed), and about 1/3 of jar of salsa that I had left over (probably about a half cup)

And then I seasoned the mixture with cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste.  I let the mixture cook for a few more minutes

While the vegetables were cooking, I heated up corn tortillas, and prepared the toppings – shredded cheddar cheese and sliced avocado!

Here’s the whole spread:

Then to make the tacos, we scooped a spoonful of the veggie mixture into each tortilla and layered on the avocados and cheese, and a dash of hot sauce.  This works well since we get to personalize how spicy we each want it to be. J. really likes his to be hot and spicy, while I like a medium level of spice.

So next time you have a ton of vegetables in your fridge to use up before going on vacation, consider making these veggie tacos!

Veggie Tacos

Note:  Consider this a “guide” rather than a strict recipe, as you can use whatever vegetables you want to get rid of!

Ingredients:

• Yellow squash, sliced
• Zucchini, sliced
• bell peppers, chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup prepared salsa
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 5-6 corn tortillas

The following seasonings to taste:

• Chili powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Cumin
• Salt and pepper

Toppings:

• Sliced avocados
• shredded cheddar cheese
• sour cream (optional)

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large sautee pan over medium heat.  Add vegetables (except for grape tomatoes) and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes.  Add grape tomatoes, beans, and salsa, and mix.  Add seasonings to taste, and cook for another 2-3 more minutes for the flavors to develop.

Meanwhile heat tortillas according to package (I heat mine over the stove for about 1 minute on each side, or until they get soft). 

Assemble the tacos by spooning about 2 Tablespoons of the veggie mixture and topping it with cheese and avocados. 

Note: When we made these, J. and I had five tacos between the two of us, and there was a lot of veggie mixture, probably to make another 3-4 tacos.  So I would say this makes about 7-8 tacos, but it really depends on the volume of vegetables you have.