Taco Salad

With the weather warming up, all I want for dinner is salad.  This is a long-time favourite of mine.  Its easy to throw together and oh-so-satisfying.  I make it with either homemade refried beans or with lean ground beef, depending on which side of the flexitarian spectrum I’m leaning towards that day.  I had Steak Tagliata yesterday, so today I went for the beans.

Making your own refried beans is as easy as frying up some garlic in a pan and dumping in the entire contents (water and all) of a can of black beans in.  Simmer, stirring frequently, until the liquid is mostly gone, add a small handful of minced cilantro and some salt to taste and you’re good to go.  For the beef option, just brown 500g lean ground beef with 1 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp chilli powder.

The base of this salad is finely shredded romaine (I allot 1/2 head romaine per person, because I am a salad glutton).  The toppings are whatever your little heart desires.  Today I went for red and yellow peppers, green onion, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, guacamole, greek yogurt (instead of sour cream), and jarred salsa.  Depending on what I have, sometimes I add corn or shredded cheddar.  For the protein, ground beef or refried beans are my usual suspects.

Taco Salad

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 head romaine
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 15 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 portion taco beef (500g browned with 1tsp cumin & 1/2 tsp chilli powder) OR 1 portion homemade refried beans (1 can black beans, 1 garlic clove, 2Tbsp chopped cilantro)

Toppings

• guacamole
• salsa
• greek yogurt

Instructions

1. Finely shred romaine and divide into 2 large bowls.
2. Add vegetables to each bowl - red & yellow pepper, green onions, cilantro and cherry tomatoes.
3. Add beef or beans.
4. Top with guacamole, salsa and greek yogurt as per individual preferences.