Tonight, we’ve merged our regular Sunday cookout with a Taco Thursday … or Tuesday … or, um, Sunday … to bring two of our favorite things together at once.
Cookouts give me life. They sustain me. They make each and every Sunday evening just a little bit more special. And tacos? Well, I could probably eat them every day and still feel fulfilled and renewed. Put the two together, and it is a Sunday night for the ages, y’all.
Now, to be perfectly honest, this is the second time this week we’ve had tacos. But I had all these shells remaining, and sour cream and cheese to boot, and I just could not in good conscience let it all go to waste! So instead of cooking everything inside with a veggie-beef base, I brought out my trusty foil grill pans and let the grill do the cooking for me, piece by piece. A whole lot less supervision and wonderful results – and I could sit in the back yard on a beautifully dry summer day and enjoy a beer while I waited, too.
The other confession I’ve got up my sleeve – since apparently this post has become a confessional, what with the second-time-this-week-tacos and such – is that we have zucchini and corn coming out our ears. Our beloved CSA, Great Country Farms, has delivered these ingredients by the barrel full this season, and while we’re appreciative, we’re also constantly looking for ways to offload the bounty. These tacos fit the bill!
The step-by-step instructions are laid out below, but the long and the short of it is, I added refried beans, zucchini and corn, and chik’n strips to three separate grill pans, added some spices where applicable, covered each with foil, and put them on a high-heat grill for half an hour. Once they started cooking, I put on a pot of rice in my Instant Pot indoors (as I have not as yet found a sensible way to cook rice on the grill!). Then, right before the half hour was up, I heated up some crispy taco shells on the grill grates as well, got my toppings ready, and took everything off the grate!
The end result was SO good. We mowed down nearly every morsel of the meal, leaving hardly anything for leftovers tomorrow, and we don’t regret it.
The recipe’s below. Shout with questions!
CHIK’N AND SQUASH TACOS WITH RICE.
Serves 2-4
What you’ll need:
1 package vegetarian chik’n
1 summer squash (zucchini or yellow, it matters not), diced
2-4 ears corn, shucked
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 can vegetarian refried beans
1 cup rice
1 packet rice seasoning
1 packet taco shells
3 foil grill pans
Put chik’n in one grill pan and cover with foil. Add squash, corn and spices to another grill pan and cover. Place refried beans in your third pan and cover that as well.
Over a hot grill, place all three pans on the grates and cook for 30 minutes, stirring both the squash and the chik’n after 15 minutes.
Prepare rice (with seasoning) per package directions.
When you’ve got 5 minutes left in your grilling time, heat up the taco shells per package directions.
Once the grilling items are ready, remove everything from heat and serve! Top with your choice of vegan sour cream, cheese, salsa, lettuce, tomato and hot sauce and dig in.
:)