Vegan Taco in a Bag or the Vegan Walking Taco

Last weekend I went to the infamous Centre Hall Grange Fair. I really can't avoid it since I live in the center of Centre Hall, which is essentially invaded by animals, rickety rides and their dangerous contraptions, craft and tractor vendors, local campers, prize winning vegetables and, of course, fried food booths galore! I know, I am supposedly here to blog about healthy food choices, right? Well sure, but I also think that in moderation street fair food can be just the treat for someone with certain food cravings. Plus, you don't have to look far and there really are plenty of vegan options: fried dough, fried Oreos, fried zucchini, french fries, corn fritters. Recognizing a pattern here? Yep, these are all goodies swimming in grease. But hey, once a year I indulge:)

Last year's delight was the fried Oreo. Oreo cookies (totally vegan!) dipped in batter and fried. The Oreo kind of melts inside the batter so that when you bite into it - it looks like a tiny doughnut - you get an oozy, yummy chocolatey mouthful!

This year I was blown away by one food that I had never seen before: Taco in a Bag. It is the perfect way to eat a taco. Fritos lightly smashed topped with ground meat, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream. You just need a fork! Of course I was not able to eat this delightful walking taco since the vegan version would have basically been lettuce and Fritos, but I have decided to make my own scrumptious version at home! Hurray for street fair inspiration!

Vegan Taco in a Bag or the Vegan Walking Taco

Ingredients:
Small bags of Fritos
1 C tvp or vegetarian refried beans
1/2 C onion diced
1 tsp grapeseed oil
1 pkg vegetarian taco mix
1/4 C h20
2 roma tomatoes diced
1 head romaine lettuce chopped
vegan sour cream (I used tofutti brand)
vegan cheddar (Daiya is fantastic)
salsa (optional)

1. Hydrate the tvp with water while you saute the onion in oil until translucent.

2. Add hydrated tvp (or refried beans), taco mix and h20 to the skillet and cook until absorbed.

3. Lightly smash up the Fritos in the bag, add the beans/tvp, Daiya, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream.

4. Pop in a fork and enjoy!

If there were street food vendors in State College selling a vegan version of this, I would eat it everyday. So I suppose I should be glad that there aren't any:)


Special thanks to Robyn for pointing out the wonder that is the Taco in a Fritos bag!