Taco Salad

I've always enjoyed the flavor of taco-seasoned meat, but I've never been much for actual tacos. I dislike messy foods, so whenever I made "tacos", I was just dipping tortilla shells into a bowl of taco meat. For this meal, I decided to try something a little more complex! I found this recipe for taco salad on Eating Well, and adapted it to my tastes and the ingredients I had on hand as follows.


1/2 c prepared salsa
1/4 c reduced-fat sour cream
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef
2 large plum tomatoes, diced
4 tsp taco seasoning
8 c shredded romaine lettuce
1/2 c shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Combine salsa and sour cream in a large bowl.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add beef and cook, stirring often and crumbling with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, celery, and taco seasoning; cook, stirring, until the tomatoes begin to break down, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in 1/4 cup of the salsa mixture.
Add lettuce to the remaining salsa mixture in the bowl; toss to coat.
To serve, divide the lettuce among 4 plates, top with the beef mixture and sprinkle with cheese. For some crisp, include tortilla shells or chips on the side.


The salsa/sour cream mixture tasted great, and I would substitute this any day for my old taco preparation.

Adding celery and tomato. So colorful!

Taco salad! No cheese for me.

Special thanks to Granny for this wonderful centerpiece.