Living La Vida Holoka


Black Bean Taco Salad

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This colorful Black Bean Taco Salad is a flavorful fiesta for your mouth made with lettuce, black beans, veggies, cheddar cheese, tortilla strips, and a healthy taco seasoned dressing!

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Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Working from home on a daily basis, the days usually escape me anyway.  But with everything that’s going on now, I seriously have no idea what day it is or what time it is anymore.  So when I finally decided to break out my paper content planner again, I realized “Oh shoot!  Cinco de Mayo is coming up!” 

And here we are and I haven’t scheduled a damn thing related to this day.  Unless you count the Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos, which I didn’t plan for Cinco de Mayo.  I just really wanted taquitos.

Lucky for us, I remembered this salad when I was going through my brainstorming notebook where I jot down ideas for future posts.  The recipe is simple, you probably already have the ingredients on hand, and it’s healthy.  So if you’re anything like me and totally forgot that today was Cinco de Mayo, you could easily whip this up for dinner tonight and no one would know that you just added it to the menu!    

Black Bean Taco Salad

 
Since Cinco de Mayo has landed on Taco Tuesday this year, we’ve gotta do it up properly and make something taco inspired.  I mean, go ahead and live it up big with a proper taco!  But since I had all of these fresh ingredients on hand (hallelujah for fresh produce!), I’m paying homage to the taco – that spicy little handheld gem of a meal – in salad form.

Get your base of fresh and crunchy leafy greens.  Then, add some black beans for protein (you could toss in some chicken or steak, if you so desire).  After that, add some sliced peppers, green onion, olives, tomatoes, corn, and shredded cheddar cheese.  Toss it all together with a creamy salad dressing made with taco seasoning, plain Greek yogurt (or you could use sour cream), and salsa.  Top it off with some tortilla strips for a light and flavorful, plant based salad!


I made my own crispy tortilla strips in the air fryer.  It’s super easy to do!  Use a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors to cut corn tortillas into strips.  Then, spritz them with a little cooking spray.  Pop them in the air fryer for about 4-5 minutes, or until they’re crispy, and you’ve got some tasty tortilla strips to top salads and soups with! 

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Black Bean Taco Salad

Black Bean Taco Salad

Ingredients

    For the salad:
  • 4 cups lettuce
  • 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 cup sliced mini bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
  • 1/2 cup black olives
  • 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup tortilla strips
  • 2 green onions, sliced
    • For the dressing:
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp. taco seasoning
  • 2 tbsp. salsa

Instructions

    For the salad:
  1. Place the lettuce in a salad bowl.
  2. Top with black beans, tomatoes, peppers, corn, olives, cheddar cheese, tortilla strips, and green onions.
    3. For the dressing:
  3. Add the Greek yogurt, taco seasoning, and salsa to a mason jar. Stir it up or add the lid and give it a good shake.
  4. Spoon over the taco salad.
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If you love a creamy salad dressing, you’ll love this creamy, taco seasoned dressing! It’s full of flavor and clings to every lettuce leaf!  Throw everything in a mason jar and give it a good shake.  Then, when you’re finished dressing your salad, you can toss the lid back on and store it in the fridge!


Now, all you need is an icy margarita and you’ve got a Cinco de Mayo party for your mouth! 

Did you make this Black Bean Taco Salad recipe? Share your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

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Jackfruit & Black Bean Tostadas

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This post has been sponsored by Social Native and BUSH’S Black Bean Fiesta™.  This post may contain affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links helps support this blog.

Go meatless on Taco Tuesday or Cinco de Mayo with these smoky, chipotle Jackfruit & Black Bean Tostadas topped with crunchy lettuce, Cojita cheese, and green onions!


I have a newfound obsession with jackfruit!  I was a bit iffy about trying jackfruit in savory dishes at first.  It’s fruit!  How could it possibly be a good meat substitute?

Well, it’s basically magic. 

Eaten raw, jackfruit has a sweet, mango-ish flavor to it (it’s been compared to the flavor to Juicy Fruit gum).  The young, unripened fruit is used as a meat alternative in savory dishes.  I’m not going to tell you that it tastes like chicken when it’s cooked – because it doesn’t – but it shreds beautifully and makes an amazing taco filling! 


I’ve found jackfruit frozen at WholeFoods, packaged in the refrigerator aisle, but never in its original form.  So imagine my delight when my husband and I walked to a nearby grocery store and I found precut slices of jackfruit for sale.  Ever since finding these extremely exotic fruits locally, I’ve been buying one on every trip! 

The presliced jackfruit is ripe already.  However, the newbie that I am has used the sweet stuff in savory tacos before and – I’m not going to lie – it wasn’t terrible.  However, the unripened fruit works way better!  Kind of like tofu, it takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you’re cooking it in.

A flavorful tostada made with simple ingredients!

 
I’ve taken my love for jackfruit tacos to a new level and recently made tostadas. I used BUSH’S Black Bean Fiesta™ (note: these beans aren’t vegetarian) as my bottom layer. The black beans made in a chipotle sauce with peppers and corn. Very tasty and the smokiness of the chipotle sauce works really well with the jackfruit!

I also topped my tostadas with a crunchy lettuce mix, cojita cheese, and sliced green onions.  That’s it!  Simple ingredients to make a really flavorful tostada! Make them for Taco Tuesday or Cinco de Mayo!

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Jackfruit & Black Bean Tostadas

Jackfruit & Black Bean Tostadas

Ingredients

  • Corn tostada shells
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 10 oz. can young jackfruit, drained
  • 1/4 tsp. cumin
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika
  • Generous 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
  • Dash of cayenne pepper
  • 1 small lime, juiced
  • 1/4 cup mild taco sauce
  • 1 tbsp. water + more, as needed
  • 15 oz. can BUSH’S Black Bean Fiesta™
  • Optional toppings: chopped lettuce, Cojita cheese, green onions

Instructions

  1. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
  2. Add the jackfruit and break it apart as it cooks.
  3. Stir in the cumin, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and lime juice.
  4. Then, add the taco sauce.
  5. Add a tablespoon of water, as needed, to keep the jackfruit from drying out. The jackfruit will be done when it starts to caramelize on the edges.
  6. While the jackfruit is cooking, warm up the BUSH’S Black Bean Fiesta™ in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
  7. Warm up tostada shells in the oven for a few minutes.
  8. Then, start layering the tostadas with beans, jackfruit, lettuce, cheese, and green onions. Serve with hot sauce, if desired.
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If cayenne pepper is too much heat for you, you can omit it from this recipe.  The BUSH’S Black Bean Fiesta™ has a nice little kick to it already. If you want to keep these tostadas vegetarian, look for a vegetarian labeled can of black beans instead.

Find young, green jackfruit in cans or packaged in the refrigerator section of grocery stores.  You’ve got to try jackfruit at least once.  It’s wild how good it is in Mexican-inspired dishes!  These black bean layered tostadas are probably going to become my new favorite way to cook up this strange, but delicious fruit! 

Have you tried jackfruit before?

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Raspberry Beergaritas {SoFabFood Post}

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These Raspberry Beergaritas are made with raspberry beer and classic margarita ingredients.  It’s a fruity beer cocktail that combines two popular adult beverages into one delicious drink!

 

Get this Raspberry Beergarita recipe today on SoFabFood.com!

 
It’s been a crazy winter! Winter was totally confused this year in New Jersey!  One day it would snow, then the next day it would warm up and make it look like the snow never happened.  It’s been pretty mild.  At first, I was really bummed that we hadn’t had one really big snow this year.  But the closer we get to the official start of spring, I can feel my Spring Fever starting to set in.

We’ve started preparing the garden again for growing spring and summer veggies, I’m itching to spend more time outdoors, and I can’t wait to incorporate lighter, seasonal dishes, and fruity spring cocktails back into our menu!  To celebrate the return of spring in just a few weeks, I whipped up a batch of fruity, Raspberry Beergaritas!

Can’t decide between a cold beer or icy margarita?  This is the drink for you!  This fruity beer cocktail combines raspberry flavored beer and margarita ingredients into one delicious cocktail!  Blend them up for your next springtime celebration or save the recipe for Cinco de Mayo!  

Get the recipe today on SoFabFood.com and get ready to celebrate all things spring with this fruity beer cocktail!

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