Taco Salad

This is definitely more of an American dish than a Mexican dish, but that doesn’t make it any less tasty. You could almost call it a “nacho salad” instead of a taco salad since we used tortilla chips instead of deep-frying a flour tortilla to make a bowl as most restaurants do.  You could just as easily do this with shredded chicken or beef instead of ground beef, it all depends on what you have available.  It is also such a simple dish that it makes for a great weeknight dinner.  There are all sorts of options to change this up, such as using flavored tortilla chips, doing the deep-fried flour bowl, or leaving the chips out completely for a healthier version.  Enjoy.

Taco (or Nacho) Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Lean Ground Beef
  • 6 tbsp Taco Seasoning
  • 3/4 cup Water
  • 1 Tomato – diced
  • 1/2 Jalapeno Pepper – seeds removed and diced
  • 1/2 Poblano Pepper – diced
  • 1/4 Yellow Onion – diced
  • 1/2 cup Shredded Cheese (Mexican Blend, Cheddar, Colby Jack, etc.)
  • Shredded Lettuce
  • 1/4 cup Sour Cream (optional)
  • Sriracha Sauce to taste
Diced Veggies and Shredded Lettuce

Instructions

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef over medium-high heat.  Add the water and stir in the taco seasoning and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce thickens.  If desired, heat the tortilla chips in an oven at 325 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes, just to get them warm.  Assemble the salad by adding the chips to a plate or bowl, the ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, peppers, and onion.  Drizzle with sriracha and add the sour cream.

Ground Beef with Taco Seasoning

 

Quick Weeknight Dinner

As hectic as our schedules are, we often look for quick and easy dinner options. Making tacos is definitely one of those types of meals that is tasty as well as easy.  Tacos are a great option because you can use almost any type of meat such as pork, chicken, beef, or you could even do a vegan option.  You can also cook the filling a variety of ways, cooked slowly and shredded, seared in a skillet like fajita meat, or ground meat simmered in a frying pan.  We’re not really doing a recipe this week because, as we said, this was a fast meal made easy.

Chicken Tacos

This was a childhood staple for both of us and we used to make it for our kids as well.  We went with the simple solution of browning ground meat, we chose ground chicken to make a little healthier, and then adding water and taco seasoning.  It doesn’t get much simpler.  We shredded some lettuce, cut some tomato, added salsa, shredded cheese, jalapenos, and sour cream to complete the meal.  We heated store-bought taco shells in the oven, but it works great with flour shells heated in the microwave if you don’t want a crunchy taco.  Twenty minutes later and we had a dinner that was not only fast and easy, but really satisfies the taste buds.

Ground Chicken and Taco Seasoning

Sometimes uncomplicated, unsophisticated, down right old-fashioned is the perfect solution for a weeknight dinner.  People have been making this same meal since the sixties, but there is probably a reason that it has been around for so long.  When it works, it works.  We all have that “go to” dinner for when we just don’t have a lot of time or energy, but don’t want to order out or pick up fast food.  Hopefully yours is as tasty as a weeknight taco dinner.

Weeknight Dinner