I mentioned in my Month in Review for February that one of my favorite bloggers recently has been Jen from Predominately Paleo. She shares a wide variety of recipes that are often easily modified (or are) AIP Friendly! Not only that, but even my kiddos who don’t require their diet to be strictly AIP, enjoy many of her recipes.
I had read plenty of her blogs…pinned several. But, when it came to what I actually wanted to do I was a little unsure. The first time I tried this I messed up. I used coconut oil instead and ended up with a thick, hot mess… However, I happened to press some into a cupcake tin and made some amazing taco shell bowls! So if you want cupcake, taco bowls…Switch the avocado oil for coconut oil. Bake for 20 minutes and you’re done. If not…Stay tuned and try another way. It never hurts to know how to use a recipe in more than one way.
Here’s what you’ll need:
⦁ 3 Ripe Plantains (They should be heavily spotted, yellow, or black.)
⦁ 1/2 Cup Avocado Oil
⦁ 1 Teaspoon Garlic Sea Salt (I just used garlic powder and sea salt separately.)
⦁ 1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder (left out)
⦁ Optional: 1 teaspoon hot sauce (not AIP)
⦁ Optional: Juice of half a lime.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Add all of the ingredients to a blender. Process until it turns into a consistent, slightly thick batter. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. I decided to add some coconut oil to try to keep it from sticking…but it definitely still stuck on pretty well. If you’re okay with using non stick aluminum foil it does help. (I don’t know how this stuff works, but it’s magic and did help the next time I made these).
Add a spoon full onto the baking sheet and use the back of the spoon to spread it out. Mine ended up being 2ish inches wide making some awkwardly shaped, baby taco shells. I may consider making fewer taco shells and opting for larger ones next time. Try to get them even and flat, keeping the size of your palm a good consideration for size (according to the original recipe that I’ll link below!).
Bake for 20 minutes. You’ll want to carefully try to flip them. I’m wondering if the parchment paper would have done better because I had a hard time flipping these bad boys. A good, flat spatula was helpful. Throw them back in the over for 10 minutes.
Here comes the dangerous part…Are you scared? Don’t be! Set those tacos on a plate. Place the baking sheet on your bottom rack to catch any crumbs or drippy grease. Drape the tacos directly over a bar on the oven rack. I found tongs very useful in helping to bend them without getting my fingers too close to the rack. Jen has some links on her blog to taco racks that are probably much easier and safer to handle that you can check out.
My tacos came out awful crisp and so close to burnt. It’s suggested that they go back in for another 20-30 minutes. I think this will depend on the size. If you have little baby tacos like me, it can be as quick as 10 minutes!
Carefully remove them from the oven with some tongs. I went ahead and left them folded to cool, and dry a few minutes. Add your favorite taco fixin’s and you have an amazing, flavorful taco shell creation that is sure to please! I know that we loved them! It was a little tricky at first, but I think once you get this down, it’ll be Taco Tuesday every Tuesday. Even if you’re not paleo/aip I hope you’ll try out this yummy alternative. Here’s is the link to Jen’s original recipe (http://predominantlypaleo.com/grain-free-taco-shells-paleo-vegan/).
I hope you enjoy this recipe review! Be sure to check out Jen on her website and on Facebook. She is very interactive and just the sweetest and brightest energy I’ve seen from a blogger. I just want to find her and make her my blogging best friend! Make sure y’all come back and see me on Manic Monday where I try to give you guys some of my quicker recipes to help you through dealing with a case of the Mondays!.
-Ami M. Lee, Taco Destroyer, Common Sense Cook
The Common Sense Cook 