Over the weekend we bought a case of re-fried beans from Costco. We have been wanting to buy some for a little while but our budget never had enough room for it.  I was so excited about them that I used them for our dinner salad that night.

Before we decided to only eat vegan/plant based foods in our house, we used to eat A LOT of bean burritos. And let me tell you, they have been sorely missed! We would load it with full-fat refried beans, lots of cheese, Taco Bell sauce and top it off with a lot of cheese. I have tried many different varieties of this now that we eat healthier, but nothing has quite made the mark. On Saturday I had a stroke of genius though!

Why not make our favorite burritos into a salad?

Before I get started with the recipe I want to give a little info about my old friend:

That’s right! Taco Bell’s taco sauce.  When we started eating a plant based/vegan diet I completely stopped buying this stuff because I assumed it was bad for you. However it dawned on me the other day that I should read the label to see what it was made of.  If you read the label you will realize that it’s actually not bad! It’s definitely not any worse than any other store-bought salad dressing!

It has tomato puree as the first ingredient, and then vinegar. Under the less than 2% part of it it says salt, chili peppers, spices, xantham gum, a sodium benzoate (a preservative), soy lecithin and natural flavor.  I was impressed.

Enough about taco sauce..

Here is the recipe and directions for my favorite taco style salad to date.

Taco Style Salad

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: GreenLeavesAndJam.com

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 1 can of re-fried beans*
• frozen corn
• romaine lettuce
• sunflower seeds
• wheat tortillas
• Taco Bell's taco sauce

Directions

1. Chop your lettuce and place in your bowl. Set it aside. If serving 2, take one tortilla and use a pizza roller to cut it into small shapes. Place on a coking sheet in a toaster oven(or oven) on toast for about 3-5 minutes. Watch them though because they go from toasted to black VERY quickly!
2. Open your can of re-fried beans(or homemade beans) and add water until it is to your liking. Once it's at your desired consistency, heat for a little in the microwave until warmed through. Spoon this out onto your lettuce.
3. Heat your frozen corn and sprinkle on top of your lettuce and re-fried beans.
4. Sprinkle some sunflower seeds and crumble your tortilla pieces on top.
5. Pour some Taco Bell taco sauce on top and it's ready to eat!
6. *You can also make your own "refried beans" by mashing pinto beans and adding a few seasonings like chili powder or cumin and a little salt.

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