Vegan in Mexico

I'm back from Mexico and mostly-recovered from too much holiday fun.  I managed to not take a single picture of a meal I ate on my trip.  Overall, I didn't find it difficult to find vegan food in Mexico, though I did start to get bored on variations of veggie fajitas by the end of the trip, and I was frequently brought food with cotija cheese on top even after the waiter had assured me of no cheese.  (But the cheese thing happens to me frequently in the U.S., too).  My favorite meal was at a hole-in-the-wall taco shop in Playa del Carmen, where I had nopales tacos so good I returned for them again at the next meal.  They were simply strips of nopales fried in a little oil and garlic, served on handmade corn tortillas with salsa verde.  I also ate guacamole at practically every meal.  Breakfasts were mostly fruit and bread.  I carried canned black beans, bananas, and tortillas in my backpack as a back-up plan when I ventured anywhere off the beaten path, but I could have gotten by okay without them.  All in all, it was a low-stress trip food-wise; the place where I had the hardest time finding vegan food was the Houston airport.

I returned from my trip just in time for Christmas Eve at home, which in my house means tamales.  I use the the recipe in Veganomicon for my tamale dough, and fill them with whatever strikes my fancy.  This time I used delicata squash, black beans, and salsa verde.  I served them with quinoa, kabocha squash, and avocado.