Taco Salad is a wonderful dish to have for dinner on a hot summer night, and it’s been hotter than blazes here. We’re on our fifth day in a row of 90 degree weather. It’s not just hot, it’s also humid.
If you live someplace like Florida or Georgia please don’t leave one of those, “If you think it’s hot there, you should be here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” comments. I know it’s ridiculously hot there, which why I’m here. I’m not one of those people who plans on retiring to where the air is as thick as the kudzu grows. You’ll find me in Hawaii when I’m 70 enjoying the cool island breezes, and refreshing mountain top views, thank you very much.
Look, 88 degrees at 8:30 at night is very warm for us Michigan folks who spend most of the year shivering in cable knit sweaters, OK?
So, we’ve mostly been staying inside enjoying the air conditioning. But the stove competes with the air conditioning when it’s this hot, and I’ve been keeping cooking to a minimum.
Tonight we dined on Taco Salad, which not only requires a minuscule amount of cooking, it’s also easy, easy, easy.
There are probably a million different ways to make Taco Salad. Here’s mine.
Taco Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
Iceberg lettuce head
3 large tomatoes
Nacho cheese flavored chips
2 cups shredded cheddar/taco/Mexican blend cheese
1 bottle French or Catalina dressing
Instructions:
Brown the ground beef. Add your favorite taco seasoning mixture.
While the ground beef cools, prepare the rest of the salad.
Chop up 1/2 to 2/3 of the head of lettuce. Chop up the tomatoes. Crush half the bag of nacho cheese flavored chips into bite size pieces.
In a large bowl mix together the lettuce, tomato and chips. Add the shredded cheese. Stir in cooled ground beef mixture. Finally, add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the dressing. Stir well. Serve immediately.
If you make the Taco Salad ahead of time, add everything but the chips. Stir those in just before serving so they don’t get soggy.
You can of course add more of or subtract some of any of the above ingredients to your own taste.
Other additions:
Jazz up the salad by adding onion and red beans.
Make it leaner by using ground turkey or shredded chicken. You can also save calories by using light dressing, and baked chips.
I think I’ll make that for my son for dinner!
I am doing a 30 day food challenge on my blog (http://iamonly1woman.blogspot.com) I would love to use this recipe. Please email me at boblyns at yahoo dot com if that is ok with you 🙂 It will be posted sometime in August
My mom makes this recipe and loves it.
I also won’t say “if you think that is hot”. 🙂 We have actually had nice weather (at least what we think is nice). It has only been in the high 80’s/low 90’s. We went swimming the other night and the water was cold (or what we would call cold – which is anything that is not the temperature of bath water 🙂 ) They say our hot spell is coming. I’m guessing that means high 90’s that feel like 110. There is a difference between our hot and yours though. Ours isn’t as humid. We have a drier heat. I have a hard time dealing with Indiana summers now but do pretty well with Florida. The last time we were home (IN) in the summer, my kids were complaining about the heat. But here, FL, my kids are complaining when the temperatures hit 85. We do not go into a restuarant or theatre without jackets because we freeze. I can’t tell you how many times my kids could not wait to be done with dinner just so they could go outside and warm up. Christmas should be interesting….they have no idea how cold, cold really is. 🙂
I should have said in my post that they complain when it hits 85 because they are cold..not hot.
I completely agree with you about the a/c competing with the stove!! We’ve had crock pot dinners as of late! 🙂
Your recipe looks tasty!! I’m gonna have to try it out!!
I meant to comment on your last post and forgot. The cowboy boots are too cute!!!
I just made this last night!! It’s the perfect summer recipe. I got it from my mother in law, who I was visiting in West Virginia. And if you think it’s hot HERE…