000000A cumin spiced taco filling with a delicious cilantro lime sauce. Build them anyway you please, in shells, a bowl, or on chips. Anyway you slice it, you’re going to love it.
The one thing I’ve learned to appreciate most by being on an elimination diet is how often certain foods are used in our day to day meals. Many people feel like gluten is very hard to give up. Not to downplay the difficulty of being gluten free, because that is definitely tough. But for me, nightshades are my Achilles heel.
The nightshade family is made up of tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers, eggplant, and the spices derived from them like paprika, chili powder, and cayenne. For a larger list and more info about why some people avoid them, check out this link. Nightshades seem to pop up everywhere. They are prevalent throughout Italian, Mexican, Spanish, and many other cuisines.
So, if we think about the ingredients listed above and tacos, we can see the correlation. Paprika, chili powder, tomatoes, salsa, etc. are all ingredients used either in seasoning taco meat or topping tacos. I wanted to create a recipe that still evoked the same feeling of tacos without having these ingredients that many people, including myself, just can’t eat.
I’m happy to say I think this one does it. My human test subject (aka my boyfriend) was excited we were having tacos, as it’s something I used to make quite often before elimination. As I watched him scarf down two jam packed tacos and eye the pot on the stove for more I knew this one was a winner!
What really sets this recipe up for success is the flavor of the cilantro lime sauce. This sauce can be used just as a topping or even mixed into some cooked white rice to pump up the volume of the entire dish. This is why my rice in my photos sometimes appears to be tinted green, it’s cilantro’ed up.
While I hope to be able to reintroduce tomatoes and certain spices soon, until then I will enjoy my tacos nightshade free! Now, so can you!
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- 1 tsp sunflower oil
- 2 spring onions, chopped (white only, save the tops for garnish)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- juice of half a lime (cut the other half into wedges for serving)
- zest of 1 lime
- juice of 1 lime
- bunch cilantro
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/2 avocado
- corn tortillas or chips (be sure to check for gluten free if you need)
- 10 oz cooked rice
- matchstick carrots
- chopped romaine
- green onion tops
- chopped cilantro
- any other taco toppings you enjoy!
- Combine all sauce ingredients in a blender (or use an immersion blender and bowl) blend till just smooth. Set aside for serving.^
- Meanwhile, start on the beef. In a large saute pan on Medium High heat add oil and spring onions. Cook down for 3-5 minutes until the onions start to sweat down.
- Add beef and cook through. Drain fat.* To the pan add lime, garlic, salt and cumin. Stir to combine. Continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes till spices are evenly distributed throughout the meat.
- Build your tacos/nachos/taco salad however you like and enjoy!
- ^I mixed a spoonful of the sauce into some white rice for some cilantro lime rice.
- *I had corn tortillas that needed to be heated. I reserved my beef fat and cooked the tortillas in small amounts of the reserved fat. Waste not, want not.
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