Tuesday, February 24, 2009

{TACO SALAD}

This one isn't really a recipe - but it's what I have for lunch every day, so I thought I would just post what I do. In Dr. Furhman's book Eat to Live, he talks a lot about how most people don't get near the amount of vegetables, especially greens, that we should. He says to eat huge (and I mean HUGE) salads either with or for every meal. This is one of my favorites, because it is filling enough for the whole meal. The amounts are for an individual salad - yes, believe it or not, I eat this whole thing by myself!

Romaine lettuce (I use at least half of a large head, or a full small head)
1 tomato
1/2 can kidney beans
1/2 cup corn
2 corn tortillas
1/2 T. taco seasoning
salsa

• Cut, wash, and spin lettuce*

• Dice tomato

• Heat corn in microwave

• Pour the can of kidney beans (undrained) into a bowl, add taco seasoning. Mix, and heat in microwave. Pour half of the beans and liquid into salad.

• Cut corn tortillas into strips. Spread onto baking sheet and bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes (or until golden brown and crispy.)**

• Pour salsa on top, mix everything up, and enjoy!

* This is a tip my mom taught me - if you cut the head of lettuce (while the head is still intact) lengthwise in strips, and then turn it and cut it the other way before you wash it, you don't have to wash the individual leaves and then break them into pieces. Then you just put it all in the spinner, wash it, spin it, and it's done!

** I also make tortilla chips this way - just cut the whole stack of tortillas into triangle pieces, spread single layer onto a baking sheet and bake. They get crunchy like real chips, and are much lower in fat - and no sodium.

***Amounts are just estimates - you can use as much or as little as you want of everything.

2 comments:

Rebekah said...

i have this one often too. i actually love it with the creamy caesar dressing.

Shanelle said...

I really enjoyed this. I did make some changes though. First, I made a taco salad shell out of a whole grain tortilla. I baked it in the oven. This is one of my favorite parts about taco salad so I considered it a necessity. I also used black beans instead of kidney. I also topped it with white bean guacamole, sour cream, and chia seeds. It was delicious and very filling.