Leap Day Taco Party & A Taco Yoga Video & A Taco Cleanse Giveaway for You!

Leap Day Taco Party!!

taco double dutch

I have pretty much been waiting years and years to have a Leap Day party. Last time around I was so excited and then I was out of town or something like that - there was no Leap Day party for me. This year I was super jazzed about Leap Day landing on a Monday, which is one of the nights that I don't teach. But... I had a problem. I was also super jazzed to have a Taco Party with my friends so that we could cook a million recipes from The Taco Cleanse cookbook. What to do? 

Have a Leap Day Taco Party, of course! 

Two great tastes that taste great together!

taco plate of beauty and glory.
so many colors! flavors! textures! nutrients! tasties! 

You may have heard that The Taco Cleanse was such a runaway-hit, celebrity-darling of a cookbook that it quickly sold out of its first run. It was pretty amazing -- countless magazines, websites, national TV shows all featured it. It was so heart-warming to see veganism being represented as fun and funny and delicious and versatile. I'll tell you, it seriously gave me a case of the warm fuzzies. Also, it was kind of a thrill for me to see my Taco Yoga Doodles featured on E!Tonight and People.com (for realz).

So, in case you missed your chance to pick up a copy of the hottest book of the year, it's back in print and available far and wide. Plus, I'm doing a giveaway at the end of this post!

Fresh Corn Tortillas (left) ~ and ~ Fresh Plantain Tortilla (right)

So, to celebrate Leap Day Taco Party, I sent my friends recipes from the book and we each brought something. It was such a great way to do a taco party -- because every one knows that having 1 million taco toppings to choose from is the way to go, but no one person wants to make all 1 million recipes by themselves.

As the leap taco hostess, I put myself in charge of making tortillas. Before getting this book, I had only made homemade tortillas once, and now I have done it so many times, I'm starting to feel like a pro. The recipe in The Taco Cleanse is super easy and the tortillas are just delicious. In honor of my commitment to a taco-rich lifestyle, I went out and bought two important items: A Tortilla Press and a Tortilla Warmer. The tortilla warmer (seen on the left) is pretty neat, but not significantly more effective than a piece of tinfoil. The tortilla press, however is LIFE-CHANGING. Oh man! Before this I've been pressing a giant soup pot down on my masa blobs to make tortillas. It works, but it's kind of exhausting. With my new tortilla press, I jammed my way right on through a double batch of tortillas in no time! I am IN LOVE. No going back. Plus, it was only $18 at the Latino market here in town. 100% worth it and highly recommended.

i love love love my new tortilla press!

This party also gave me a reason to tackle the Plantain Tortillas! This recipe caught my eye the very first time I flipped through The Taco Cleanse. The ingredients are: plantains, water, salt. That's it!! But they are actually really easy to make and they taste amazing and they are so much fun and feel so special. I'll definitely make them again. I want to figure out which fillings in the book are best complimented by the plantain taco - this was a source of great discussion and concern at our taco party! ha ha.

Refries Forever

One thing you just gotta have at a Leap Taco Party is a giant vat of refries bigger than anyone's head. Luckily, my pal PS is a super maestra of refries so she offered to make these. They were just perfect - the right amount of creamy, smashed beans with whole perfectly cooked beans. 

taco high dive

Grounding Sweet Potato Fries

PS and her partner also brought a huge batch of the Grounding Sweet Potato Fries, which were so good. I always buy the orange ones, which I guess are technically called yams. These fries are oven-baked, and nicely seasoned with an array of spices. I ate many of these little gems. This is one of the recipes I hadn't made yet from the book, but I'll definitely make them again. They're great in the tacos and also as a side snack.

Soy Curl Fajitas

For "main dish" fillings, I made a big batch of the Soy Curl Fajitas. This is one of my favorite recipes in the whole book. The whole thing takes about 25 minutes to make and it's super delicious, full of wow-power, and super spicy (at least, that's how I make it). It's so good and easy and perfect. 

Blue Corn Chip-Crusted Tofu

I also wanted to make something I hadn't made yet from the book, so I chose the Blue Corn Chip-Crusted Tofu slices - mmm! Like almost all of the recipes in this book, these came together super quickly and were not actually much work, but were super yummy. The tofus are lightly marinated, dipped in a slurry, and then coated in a bowl of seasoned and crushed corn chips. The flavor is fairly mild, but yummy, and the chew of the baked tofu plus the crisp of the chip crusting is great. This is a great panko substitute for GF people.* These were a great taco filling along with all the sauces and condiments and other goodies we had.

*side note - taco party is pretty much GOLDEN for the gluten-freebies out there. Two of my beloved guests are gluten-freebies and there wasn't one thing on this whole blog post that had gluten in it! Amazeballs! Highly recommended for delighting and pampering your gf pals (or your gf self!)

leaping tacos!

Homemade Soyrizo

Mr. K brought a bowl of his own homemade soyrizo, which was really great! It's a recipe he's been working on for a while, which involves freezing then thawing tofu, marinating it, and then seasoning it with lots of spices and chilies. It was a great texture and flavor and I especially loved it with the super creamy refried beans.

Fruity Salsa ~ and ~ Bright Light Baja Slaw

The lovely Ms. H brought a huge bowl of Fruity Salsa, which pretty much had me doing leaps of joy on Leap Day. Like a true superstar, she somehow found a perfectly ripe mango and a perfectly ripe pineapple and turned that biz into the most delicious thing ever. I may or may not have gone back for seconds and just scooped a giant spoonful of it onto my plate to eat just like that. Well, actually, I did do that. She and I were discussing that we are both generally quite dedicated to only buying local seasonal fruit, since we are lucky enough to live somewhere with a robust selection of local organic fruit all year long. As a result, we both said that we only buy mangos once or twice a year -- and when we do it feels SO exciting and special. ha ha. It's the little things!

She also brought a big beautiful bowl of Bright Light Baja Slaw. I've made this recipe lots of times already but I feel like it's a must-have for a taco party. A crisp, limey red cabbage slaw adds color, crunch, and beauty to every taco it adorns!

taco high jump!

Condiments Galore!!! Condiments make the taco leap party complete

It's not a real Leap Day Taco Party until you've got so many taco condiments and sauces just like a real taqueria! 

I made Regenerative Red Onions and Enzymatic Escabeche, plus lime wedges, sliced scallions, cilantro, and two of us brought Yellowbird Sauce (great minds think alike! ha ha!). I promise you, that pink color on those red onions is not from photoshopping my picture - the onions really do turn a glorious florescent pink color! I love that recipe so much. The pickled onions are super easy and add SO much to the taco experience. 

It was my first time making the Escabeche, which was also super easy (10 minutes?) and fun and delicious. These pickled carrots, jalepenos and onions were a big hit! 

Tranquility Avocado Sauce ~ and ~ Essential Pico de Gallo

Ms. K brought two of the Taco Leap Party's most essential dishes: Tranquility Avocado Sauce and Essential Pico de Gallo. Honestly, I could just eat these two things with a bowl of beans and some corn tortillas and still consider it a pretty kick-ass taco party.

The Tranquility Avocado Sauce is kinda my new thing. I mean, it's so good that I kinda don't need to make guacamole anymore. Yeah, I said it. I LOVE this recipe. 

And Pico de Gallo is one of the best things ever. This recipe is straightforward and perfect. I love making homemade PdG, but I especially love having my friend make homemade PdG and bring it over to my house! ha ha. 

Taco Ballet

Drinks drinks drinks! 

The Taco Cleanse does have several drinks recipes, including a couple of non-alcoholic recipes... but I had a pent-up need to make the Horchata from Viva Vegan, so I did that instead. Oh damn, that recipe is so good and so perfect and I loooove it. Some daring guests mixed the rum with the horchata, but I am not an alcohol appreciator, so I was happy with it plain. As you can see, I also tracked down a giant bottle of TopoChico - the top-notch Mexican sparkly water that we all fell in love with at the VidaVeganCon last year in Austin. I should have gotten two giant bottles because this disappeared in no time!

Tacos, Glorious Tacos!

Oh yeah! Bring on the healing, chakra-balancing, cell-regenerating, power-boosting properties of vegan tacos!!! Just look at round one of my first pass at the table - so many colors, foods, veggies, spices, textures, nutrients, and taco sensations. I'm ready to take over the world! (Taco over the world?). One of the other great things about this taco party is that this huge selection of food is actually really healthy and nutritious, in addition to being 5-star delicious!

Horchata Rice Pudding & Organic Strawberries 

Of course we had dessert! Have you ever made the Horchata from Viva Vegan? One of the great things about it is that you end up with a big batch of magically delicious horchata, AND with a batch of magically delicious horchata-flavored rice pudding flecked with almonds and spices. It's pretty much the best. So, I heated up the rice pudding for dessert and served it in tiny bowls along with a huge bowl of strawberries. A perfect light sweetie to top off our expanding bellies of taco power.

*** Taco Yoga Instructional Video ***

as seen on YouTube

Perhaps you have heard ancient legends about the healing powers of Taco Yoga (tm). Or perhaps you have just seen my taco yoga infographic on Instagram or E!News Tonight. Perhaps you are curious about the healing and balance you too could experience through Taco Yoga, but you aren't sure where to start. Look no further. With Mr. VE&T's help, and with our "helpful" dogs barking in the background, I have filmed a short Taco Yoga Video to introduce you to this beautiful life-giving practice. 

** Taco Cleanse Giveaway!**

As a thank-you for contributing the Taco Yoga content to The Taco Cleanse, the books publishers (The Experiment Publishing) sent me a couple extra copies of the book, which was super nice of them! But I had already bought one for my mom and dad! ha ha. So, I am going to give a copy away to one taco-loving reader, anywhere in the world! Just leave a nice comment (and please make sure I can contact you - with an email address or through your blogger ID) - tell me something nice about spring time or fun parties with friends or taco ideas or anything nice. I'll pick a winner next week!