Sometimes All You Need is a Perfect Recipe for Taco Salad

Do you love trying new foods, or do you have old favorites that you eat over and over again? If your answer was "Both," maybe you're suited for the life of a food blogger! If you're writing a food blog about recipes, you need to keep coming up with something new to try frequently (for the blog, that's what we tell ourselves.) On the other hand, even the most adventurous food blogging cook probably has things they make regularly.

Taco salad is one of my standby lunches and something I could probably eat every day for a long time before I'd ever get tired of it. Of course everyone who likes taco salads has their own taco salad preferences, and I'm pretty emphatic about mine. Chips aren't even something I think of any more when someone says taco salad, but don't try taking away my ranch dressing! I also like to use a seasoned mixture of lean ground beef and black beans, simmered together with some cumin, chile powder, and ground chipotle chile powder. I make a double batch of this mixture and keep it in the freezer, so I can get that taco salad fix whenever I need it.

Dump canned black beans into a colander and rinse well with cold water (until no more foam appears.) If you have time to cook your own black beans, even better.

Brown the ground beef well, breaking it apart with a metal turner as you cook it. I always use ground beef with less than 10% fat.

When the meat is well browned, add black beans, chile powder, cumin, and chipotle chile powder with two cups water. Let simmer until nearly all the water has evaporated.

I'm partial to romaine lettuce for this salad, but you can use iceberg lettuce if you like it. I use about 3 cups lettuce when I'm making a main dish salad.

Mix the lettuce with about 3 T ranch dressing, or use a dressing of your choice. (It looks like too much dressing at this point, but when other things get added to the salad it will be just right.)

Add the meat/bean mixture and diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes and gently combine, then sprinkle grated cheese over the top of the salad. Just delicious!

Kalyn's Taco Salad
(Makes enough meat/bean mixture for 4-5 salads. I recommend doubling the amount of meat/beans and freezing it so you can have taco salads in your future!)

For meat/bean mixture:
1 lb. low fat ground beef (less than 10% fat)
1/2 tsp. Spike Seasoning
1 tsp. olive oil (to saute ground beef, use more or less oil depending on your pan)
1 can black beans (can use kidney beans or small red beans)
1 T chile powder (New Mexico chile powder preferred, this is a very mild ground red chile powder)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground Chipotle chile peppers (or use any other type of hot chile powder or chili sauce)
2 cups water

For each salad:
3 cups romaine lettuce, torn, washed, and spun dry
3 T ranch dressing (I make the dressing from Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix that's combined with buttermilk and mayo)
3/4 cup meat/bean mixture (or more)
1 cup diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (if using large tomatoes, drain them in a colander after chopping)
1/4 cup grated cheese (I use low-fat four cheese Mexican blend)

Dump can of black beans into a colander in the sink, then rinse with cold water until no more foam appears. (This removes some of the undigestible carbohydrates that can make beans hard to digest.) Let drain while you cook meat.

Heat olive oil in large heavy frying pan, then add ground beef, breaking apart with your fingers. Cook beef over medium high heat until well browned, breaking apart with metal turner as it cooks. When beef is browned, add beans, chile powder, cumin, Chipotle chile powder, and water and simmer until nearly all water is evaporated. Let cool slightly before using on salad. (This can be made ahead and frozen. To use after freezing, thaw and then reheat for a couple of minutes in a microwave.)

To assemble salad, put lettuce in large plastic bowl and toss with desired amount of dressing. Add slightly warm beef/bean mixture and diced tomatoes and gently toss. Arrange on serving plate and sprinkle with grated cheese.

South Beach Diet and Low-Glycemic Suggestions:
All the ingredients here are low on the glycemic index. However, if you're a South Beach dieter, it's pretty important to use low-fat ground beef and low-fat cheese in this salad, because the combined fat in the meat, cheese, and mayonnaise would probably make this a "once in a while treat" for South Beach. I wouldn't try to reduce the fat by using fat-free salad dressing or mayonnaise, because I don't want the added sugar that fat-free products have, but you could use light mayo in the dressing.

More Taco-ish Salads to Try:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly, check ingredients.)
Southwest Chicken Salad
Cilantro-Lover's Leftover Chicken Salad
Turkey Taco Salad from City Mama

Quick and Easy Taco Salad from FoodCite
Catalina Taco Salad from Ramblings from a Gypsy Soul
Creamy Cojita Cilantro Dressing for Taco Salad from The Feast Within
Breakfast Taco Salad from Foodaphilia
Healthier Taco Salad from Two Fat Als
Taco Salad from Culinary in the Country
Simple Taco Salad from Greens and Grains

Want even more recipes?
I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.

Things you might want to know:
You can get Kalyn's recipes by e-mail.
There's a great way to print recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen.
It's easy to find out who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week.
There are actual rules for Weekend Herb Blogging.
Here is another place where I write more about food.

Tags:
Food Recipes Cooking South Beach Diet Recipes
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes
Diabetes Friendly Recipes