naked taco salad

Taco salad without tortilla chips, for me, has always been kind of…meh. I miss the crunch, and the extra saltiness…even though I know the chips are really nothing more than extra fat and empty calories. But my salads already have enough fat in them to barely qualify as salads, in my opinion. Plus, this salad is now oil-free, and perfect for a strict fasting day.

I started by cooking a can of chili beans, with the liquid, with a couple cloves of garlic added for flavor.

While that was simmering, I did a tahini sauce with lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, cumin, chili powder, turmeric and smoked paprika…

and added it to the beans with a little Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

I loved the color.

I removed the beans from the heat and added my tomatoes, then put the bean mixture aside to cool a little while…

I made this salad.

Add the saucy beans…

stir it up. It makes for a very filling salad with lots of protein and iron.