Not Your Papa's Tacos De Papa

I did a cookbook swap with a fellow ppk-er and scored Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I was super excited to get this book since I have been trying harder to incorporate new foods into my diet. If you haven't read my blog, I'll give the short version: I ate almost zero veggies growing up. My parents didn't eat them so they didn't feel compelled to make me do so either. I didn't try many "new" or "different" foods for a really long time so I was stuck in a rut of the same starchy/greasy food out of fear and complacency. Many years later I still love my starches and my grease, but I've learned to balance it out with green and the other yummy colors of the rainbow.

I love tacos de papa but I've never made my own. Whenever I have an extra few potatoes I always say I am going to make them but I always forget. They seem like they'd be simple to make but those are usually the recipes I pass on in favor of making a huge complicated mess of the kitchen instead. Since sweet potatoes were one of the foods I wouldn't try until college, I decided to go with this recipe first. I've only had them in fries and pies until now so this seemed like a refreshing change. It also involves peach salsa, which is something I've never tried. I have a leftover mental block that says fruit only belongs in sweet recipes, not savory. I know I'm totally wrong and I'm working to correct my attitude.

These were really easy to make. You could get all your other veggies chopped while the sweet potatoes are steaming. I have a 5 qt. pot that came with a steamer and it was the perfect size, but you could probably do batches in a smaller steamer or two small pots if you had to. I put the whole jalapeno instead of half, only because I took the seeds out. If the seeds were in I wouldn't have done that. I'm building my heat tolerance but I'm not there yet. I did take a few shortcuts: premade shells and storebought salsa. It all came together beautifully and I can now say I am a fan of fruity salsas, which are probably a million times better when you  make them fresh. I can't compare these to the other tacos de papa, but I will say I like them just as much, if not more.

I forgot to break out my new turkey plate a few weeks ago so this is his first appearance. Isn't he gorgeous? My sister bought him for me when we were shopping at Ross a few months ago.