Taco Salad

My mouth is watering just looking at this yummy bowl of salad.

I can remember coming home from soccer practice when I was young and very hungry and sitting at the counter watching my mom cook up the onions, hamburger, beans and thinking it smelled so good.

This meal is a staple in our house now especially since we have received a CSA box for the past year. This recipe is a great way to use up many of the incredible vegetables that come in a CSA box. It is also just a great quick dinner.

The ingredients are almost always different…it just depends on what I want to use up in my vegetable drawer that afternoon. Here is an idea of how to make it.

Ingredients:

1 large head of your favorite lettuce (red leaf pictured above, even a mixture of greens is fabulous)

1 red pepper (or your favorite color of pepper)

3-4 celery stalks

3-4 carrots

3-4 radishes

1 pound ground turkey (or hamburger)

1 can of beans (black, kidney, pinto, what ever you prefer)

1 small onion

1 package of taco seasoning

2-3 handfuls of tortilla chips

1/2 cup to 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

**some possible extra ingredients to include:

- sliced avocado on top after tossing salad

- frozen corn added in with the beans

- tomatoes

- mozzarella cheese works well too

How to Make:

Heat large skillet on medium-high with a small amount of your favorite cooking oil (I like grape seed oil) add chopped onion and cook until tender (about 5 min).

While the onion, ground turkey and beans are cooking start chopping and tearing vegetables.

When the onion is tender add the ground turkey and turn down the temperature to medium heat. Stir turkey and keep an eye so it doesn’t burn.

In a large bowl add torn lettuce and chopped vegetables (radish, carrots, celery, red peppers, etc…) and toss

Once the ground turkey cooks thoroughly, add beans and as much taco seasoning as you like (I use the taco seasoning from Trader Joes and only use about 1/4 of the packet). Then place a lid on the skillet and simmer for about 5 minutes to steam the beans and help the seasonings blend into the turkey, onion and beans.

Once the 5 minutes are up add the turkey mixture to the salad

Quickly add the cheese and tortilla chips and toss. (the longer you wait to toss the salad the more wilted your lettuce will be)

You can add your dressing individually or toss into the salad. We prefer ranch dressing for this meal but a great balsamic vinaigrette is really fantastic too.

If you have any leftovers this salad keeps well for 1 to 2 days.

My sister-in-law gave me a great tip for salad left overs, just toss some fresh lettuce into the leftover salad and it will taste as fresh as when you first made it.

Enjoy!

Looking for more CSA recipe inspiration? Check out this CSA Link-up party:

http://inherchucks.com/2012/05/16/whats-in-the-box-26/

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