Receta Layered Chopped Taco Salad
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My mom is a wonderful cook. My fondest family memories are the wonderful meals she prepared for dinner and during the holidays. Occasionally, she’d expand her repertoire by adopting a someone else’s recipe, like her friend, Elizabeth’s Taco Salad. It was one of those retro, faux-Mexican dishes. If I remember correctly, it combined cooked ground beef, taco seasoning, lots of sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, and olives. I remember eating bowls of it as an afterschool snack.
When I did some research, I saw that other retro Taco Salad recipes used ingredients like Catalina or French salad dressing and flavored snack chips. Yuck! So I decided to recreate Elizabeth’s Taco Salad as a Layered Chopped Taco Salad and combine it with some of the wholesome ingredients I use in my World’s Healthiest Taco Soup recipe like corn and beans. In addition, I used some of the ingredients I love to add to my World's Best Slow Cooker Spicy Pulled Pork Tacos: low fat shredded cheese, diced red onions, salsa and guacamole.
I also used HORMEL® Taco Meats Beef Crumbles. What I love about this product is that it’s already cooked and ready to be added to my Layered Chopped Taco Salad. You don’t have to cook it the night before and wait for it to cool down in the refrigerator so it doesn’t wilt the lettuce. Just open the package and add it to the recipe. Easy! Of course, HORMEL® Taco Meats are great for family taco nights. Also, their beef crumbles are perfect to use in other dishes like taco soup or picadillo, too.
I thought Layered Chopped Taco Salad would look pretty served in a trifle bowl, too. (Finally, an excuse to use the bowl before the holidays!) And it’s a great way to use up some of those broken up tortilla chips you’re left with at the bottom of a bag.
I think of my Layered Chopped Taco Salad as having all the taste of my taco soup and spicy tacos recipes, but without all the fuss. It’s the perfect Mexican-style salad for summer!
National Family Meals Month
September is National Family Meals Month. It’s a time where we recognize the importance of sitting down and eating a meal together. Family meals eaten at home have been proven to benefit the health and wellness of children and adolescents, to fight obesity, substance abuse and to make families stronger – creating a positive impact on our communities and our nation as a whole.
Did you know that?
Adolescents who participate in even one or two family meals per week are less likely to be overweight or obese in adulthood compared to adolescents who never participate in family meals.
Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2010). Family meals and adolescents: what have we learned from project EAT (eating amount teens)? Public Health Nutrition, 13 (7).
People who eat most the most home-cooked meals eat healthier and consume about 130 fewer calories daily, on average, compared to people who cook less or not at all.
Wolfson, J. and Bleich, S. (2014). Is cooking at home associated with better diet quality or weight-loss intention? Public Health Nutrition, Published online 17 November 2014
Quick meals means more family time
My family eats together most nights, especially on the weekends when we can relax and take our time. But it’s harder during the week when we’re all so busy with work and school.
One way I try to make it easier on us all is by making meals that are quick to put together and clean up, like my Layered Chopped Taco Salad. I also do that by using products that make my cooking less complicated like prewashed salads, frozen vegetables, and simmer sauces. In addition, I use products like HORMEL® Taco Meat. Not only is the taco meat already cooked, but I don’t have as many pans or utensils to wash. I’d rather be spending time with my family than cleaning up the kitchen!
I also make recipes like Layered Chopped Taco Salad that are guaranteed to have leftovers for lunch the next day. As I’m cleaning up, I put them in containers for my husband to take to work, my children to take to school, or in a smaller bowl for me to enjoy during my lunch break at home.
Layered Chopped Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 2 whole ripe avocados
- 1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Hot sauce, to taste
- 1 (12 ounce) package HORMEL® Taco Meats Beef Crumbles
- 4 cups chopped Romaine lettuce, divided
- 1 cup crumbled tortilla chips
- 1 cup salsa (your favorite style)
- 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can corn with red and green peppers, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup low fat Mexican style shredded cheese
- 3/4 cup chopped tomato
- 1/3 cup diced red onion
Directions
To make the guacamole, cut the avocado in half. Remove the pit and scoop out the flesh with a spoon into a small bowl. Add the Greek yogurt, lime juice, salt, and hot sauce (to taste). Mash with a fork to break up avocado and stir until ingredients are combined.
Assemble the taco salad in a glass trifle bowl in the following order. The beef crumbles go at the bottom. Follow with half the Romaine lettuce. Then add the pinto beans, corn, salsa, tortilla chips, and remaining Romaine lettuce. Finally, add the guacamole, shredded cheese, chopped tomato, and diced red onion.
Keep chilled until served.
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Total Time: 30 Minutes
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