my favorite taco salad

i didn't plan it, i swear, but this was our cinco de mayo dinner. yea, i'm a little late posting, i know.

i have been slowly teaching jason spanish words ever since we got together (recently his favorite word was "palabras", no joke) and he has picked up a lot. some questions i ask in spanish he can answer in spanish. and he knows a lot if individual words. so this year for cinco de mayo i decided it was time for a dia espanol. needless to say, it almost lasted the thirty minute drive to work. and it ended something like this -

me: tenemos que ir a la tienda despues del trabajo.
jason: si? you need to go play tennis? since when do you play tennis?
me: no no no. ir a la tienda. the store. this is no good. back to ingles.

that was the end of dia espanol. (but not too bad for someone who hasn't taken a class in 10 years.) just don't ask me about my french.

actually, the salad was the end of the day. and it's good. the only real change i made from the original recipe is using the whole can of beans. what am i going to do with a leftover half can of kidney beans? nothing. so i use them all. and it's not bean overload or anything, so it works out perfecto.

...and if you don't like ground beef or want to change it up, use ground turkey, or thinly sliced chicken breast. one big chicken breast was enough for the two of us.

my favorite taco salad
from eating well serves two

1/2 cup prepared salsa
2 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream
vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces ground beef or turkey
1 plum tomato, diced
1 can rinsed kidney beans
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce (enough for two entree sized salads)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. combine salsa and sour cream in a large bowl big enough to hold the lettuce.
2. heat a skillet over medium high heat. add vegetable oil and cook the onion and garlic until soft, about 3 minutes.
3. add beef/turkey and cook through, about 5 minutes.
4. add tomato, beans, cumin, and chili powder. cook until the tomato starts to break down, a couple minutes.
5. remove from heat and stir in two heaping tablespoons of the salsa mixture and cilantro.
6. mix the lettuce with the rest of the salsa mixture.
7. serve the lettuce topped with beef/turkey mixture and sprinkle with cheese.