Taco Salad

Today my homeschool cooking class made one of our favorite, easy recipes! It's honestly one we love during the summer as this is eaten "cold" and can use fresh lettuce & tomatoes from my garden. It stretches far since it's served with tortilla chips and is a very versatile recipe in that you can add whatever toppings you would like to it.

What is this recipe you ask???

Taco Salad!!!!

As with a lot of my meals, I had to try and attempt to come up with a recipe as I typically just toss things together. I am SO not one to follow recipes as I like cooking on the fly! lol So with that in mind, I came up with a more precise recipe but please know you can adjust this to taste and add what you like! Because my class makes 8x8 dishes, that is what this recipe is for though when I make it, I make a 9x13 pan so just double the following ingredients if you want a 9x13 dish.

1lb ground meat

1 onion diced

about 8oz cream cheese, softened

about 8oz sour cream (or you could sub some of this for plain greek yogurt)

taco seasoning (homemade recipe listed below)

chopped lettuce

diced tomato

shredded cheese

Brown the ground meat with the onion. When cooked through, remove from heat and add 1 1/2-2 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning (to taste). Set aside. In a bowl, blend softened cream cheese, sour cream & 3 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning. In an 8x8 dish, spread cream cheese mix evenly on the bottom. On top of that, evenly spread the cooked ground, seasoned meat. Next spread chopped lettuce. After lettuce, add diced tomato then finish on top with shredded cheese. Feel free to add banana peppers, jalapenos, peppers, black olives, etc. Chill until ready to eat. Serve with tortilla chips and use these to scoop up the taco salad!