Will Work for Mexican Food
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Your Waistline and Watch In Mind

I have to credit my husband with this weekly favorite at our house. This is a perfect Monday night supper for us because there isn’t a lot to do to make it, but the flavor is so fresh and you get your Mexican “fix” without feeling like you’ve eaten your way to Tijuana!!! So as my spinning instructor asked us today as we started out on the hellacious 60 minute ride “are you planning on eating chips tomorrow for Cinco De Mayo?” My answer to that question will always be a resounding YES! SO off I pedaled, working for my food!

The “Morey Taco Salad” is the perfect In A Pinch recipe! It can be prepared ahead and with lots of help from the little ones. In fact my girls helped with the prep work. They washed and dried the veggies and I chopped. Just make sure to be specific i.e. make sure they understand that washing all the vegetables doesn’t mean with soap! When we started this project, I looked over and my 2 year old was pouring dish soap on the lettuce. ARGH! No worries of any pesticides on our dinner!

My oldest grated the cheese with my supervision and the meat cooked while all this was going on. Then, off to the gym we all went ready to throw it all together in a bowl upon our return.

You have to try this Rapido!

Morey Taco Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 head of romaine lettuce
  • 2 ripe tomatoes
  • 1 half a bunch of cilantro
  • 1 half of a lime squeezed
  • 1 large handful of black pitted olives sliced
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 half of a red onion
  • 1 cup of your favorite cheese (I prefer Mexican cheese grated. My favorite is Cotija, but you can use whatever you like)
  • 1 packet of taco seasoning
  • 1.5 lbs of lean ground beef
  • 1 half of a bag of your favorite tortilla chips-I love the blue corn organic
  • 1/2 tablespoons of Italian dressing (my husband’s secret ingredient)

Instructions

  1. Let your children take the first three ingredients and wash. I put out a towel on the counter and let them put all the washed vegetables out to dry.
  2. Next have your children take the cilantro and pick the leaves off the stems, this takes plenty of time and gives you a minute to do cook the meat meat and chop the veggies.
  3. In a skillet prepare the meat according to the taco seasoning instructions (basically brown and add a bit of water and the seasoning,set aside to cool.
  4. Chop your lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and olives, set aside. Squeeze the lime over the top and let the flavors meld together.
  5. When you are ready to sit down, mix together in a large salad bowl, the lettuce, all the veggies, the meat, and the cheese (chop and add your avocado) then dress with your Italian dressing.
  6. We plate ours by laying down chips and then adding the salad on top.

You can also add kidney beans to this or any sort of bean you might like, and for that matter you can make it vegetarian and take out the meat all together with just beans!