We can all refer to a little dinner inspiration. So does Ali Slagle. dinner dreams. In her “Dinner Is Served,” she asks her co-workers about one night when, in the midst of all this, they somehow turned ingredients into dinner.
Article of the Month: Tabitha Brown TikTok starA writer and actor, she’s mentally driven to cook vegan dinners for her family. This is the first thing she wanted to build after weeks of traveling.
I’ve been out so much that I haven’t been cooking as much as I normally would, but when I was home last week, I was really looking forward to making tacos. I made pecan tacos and the next day I used leftover pecan meat to make spaghetti.
Many people use walnuts as a meat substitute, but walnuts just didn’t work for me. Eating walnuts made my face itchy and my throat irritated. So I thought I should be able to do the same with pecans. I always say believe in yourself and enjoy the kitchen. Focus more on what you love, play with those elements, and then move away from what you don’t like. That way you know you’re trying to make something that’s fun to eat. step by step. that’s okay.but i have Recipe book if you want to use. However, there are no measurement results yet. It just helps you get from your spirit to cooking.
For pecan tacos, boil raw pecan nuts with a little garlic and a little sea salt to taste. For raw tacos, you can soak the pecans in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes, but I boil them for 10-12 minutes. That way it’s really tender and doesn’t turn out to be a crunchy taco when cooked.
Then drain the water and mix with mushrooms, peppers and onions. It’s the perfect meat for tacos.cook the mixture in a frying pan [my seasoning mix] taco business and a little oil. Cook as you would with meat or meat substitutes. The great thing about this is that it’s not meat or a meat substitute, it’s almost already finished and you just cook it to enjoy the texture. It browns so nicely and is so flavorful. It’s a really great meat substitute. Most people can’t tell the difference when they try it. It’s one of my family’s favorite foods, and it’s all because of my taco business.
Meat substitutes already have these veggies, but I like to layer them. [the taco with more vegetables]. This time, I added carrots to shredded purple cabbage and mixed it with kale slaw. It also comes with a dollop of mango de gallo, which is mango with jalapeños, onions, red peppers, Roma tomatoes and a dash of lime juice. Honey, that’s great. Of course you can use avocado, or wack if you prefer, but I just make fresh avocado slices and they are so good.
[For the pecan spaghetti] Use the same meat you made from the pecans and add the spaghetti sauce. Literally add garlic, basil and tomato paste to make the sauce. I used a bottled sauce this time, but you can also make it from scratch. Occasionally put tomatoes in the air fryer along with garlic, onions, basil and a little parsley. Once heated in the air fryer, mix to create the perfect sauce. It’s that simple.
I then used gluten-free chickpea noodles to make spaghetti with honey on top.
Ali Slagle is a recipe developer, stylist, and best of all, a home cook. she, new york times and washington postHer cookbook is called: Dream Dinner (You Don’t Have To): Low-Effort, High-Reward Recipes.
Daniela Jordan Villaveses Creative director and illustrator. She was born in Bogotá and raised between Colombia, Holland and the United States. She now lives in sunny Los Angeles with her husband, her son Lou, two kittens, and a puppy.
