Taquito Party & how you can help Prop 2!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

Oh no! Where has the time gone? Plans for posts seem to be tossed by the wayside, as time slips through my fingers & next thing you know it's been far too long since I've updated. I could give you excuses (like I just spent 5 days exploring vegan-friendly Chicago), but I think I'll let the food do the talking.

I'm not one to fry food. A bit of a klutz in the kitchen, the last thing I need is hot oil sputtering & adding to the many culinary battle scars on my arms. The issue with my no-fry policy is Ryan loves fried foods, namely taquitos, which were a huge part of his San Diego area upbringing. His story about a dozen taquitos with a huge mound of guacamole for $5 has been told so many times, I can recite it word for word now. Luckily our friends Mark & Carmen are not afraid to fry & when Ryan's story had been told to them a few times, they decided to have a taquito party in honor of Carmen's birthday!

It's rare that others make food for us, so I was thrilled to be offered dinner, but another upside is Mark & Carmen are professionally trained chefs! Needless to say, we were in for a great treat. Joined by fellow vegans Alex & Kristen, all six of us brought ingredients to the table & came up with taquito filling combinations. Armed with corn tortillas & a range of options, we decided on black bean, kale, & yuca, as well as tvp chorizo & roasted corn.


As the filling were being crafted by Mark, Carmen set to work on the world's largest bowl of guacamole, much to Ryan's delight. With the fillings finished, a large pot of Spanish rice simmering, & the oil coming to temperature, Carmen piled each tortilla with our delectable concoctions & inserted a toothpick to insure no morsel could escape. Mark took his position of frymaster in front of the oil, & the first round was plunged in to the swirling liquid. Golden taquitos rose to the top of the pot & were quickly whisked on to a waiting towel lined baking sheet. Crispy taquito success!

We all ate piles flavorful taquitos topped with mounds of guacamole, much like those of Ryan's youth. Our plates were also filled with a side of vegetable laced Spanish rice, & amazing roasted tomato salsa, courtesy of Mark. Everyone was thrilled, including taquito loving Strummer, & the TVP chorizo & roasted corn decidedly the favorite of the night. For dessert, we had scoops of Double Rainbow Soy Cream in Vanilla Bean, Cinnamon Caramel, Dulce No Leche, & Mint Chocolate Chip with chocolate & caramel sauce. It was a gluttonous feast for all & we're already crafting up ideas for new fry parties!

By the way, there's less than 50 days left until the November elections & Prop 2 is still working hard to ensure better conditions for farm animals in California. The opposition has collected million of dollars, mainly donated by large factory farms, to stop this modest proposal, while the "Yes on Prop 2!" support has been coming from the people! We're being massively outspent, so we're taking to the streets to gain support from citizens, but need more funds to run television commercials & get the word out. What can you do to help? Donate a few dollars! Even a $5 donation is wonderful, anything you can do to help! I am trying to find 20 people to donate $20, a modest goal of $400 to help this deserving cause. Please consider making a donation, you don't have to be in California & just a few dollars can help to improve the lives of millions of animals!