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Friday, March 7, 2014

Taco Salad

I was trying to dream up something good for supper the other day. You know what that is like, right? I had a few ingredients on hand, so I set about thinking, "Hmmm....what would be good and healthy? Or even just good!"


Many years ago they came out with a taco salad shell that you could bake and fill. It was a very light, crusty shell that tasted very good. I haven't bought them in many years. While we were in Alaska I tried making taco salad shells from store bought flour tortillas. It was okay, but not that great. Well, I decided to try making my own flour tortillas, then baking them into the salad shell. And, you know what? They were really good. Frank really liked them which gives them a place in the, "Let's remember that and make them again." category.


First I made up a regular batch of flour tortillas using one cup of flour. If I were going to make tortillas to fill and roll up, I would split this recipe into four pieces of dough. But since I wanted to make taco salad shells big enough to hold a decent amount of ingredients, I only split it into two pieces.


I got out a cookie sheet and two regular cereal bowls, coated the outside of the bowls with shortening and rolled out the first shell. I put it directly on the bowl, then realized that just wouldn't work. So I took it off of the bowl and cooked it in the skillet just long enough to give it some shape, but not as long as if we were going to eat it.



Then I put it back on the bowl and gave it a little shape. After doing the same thing for the second bowl, I baked them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.




In the meantime, I browned up a bit of sausage, and cut up some lettuce and onions. To the table I added some of our jalapeno peppers, salsa and a bottle of ranch dressing. Frank and I tend to build our salads in different orders, but they both taste great.












Good to the last bite.










Until next time - Fern


12 comments:

  1. The whole family loves taco salad. We use what meat we gave left over, chicken or beef. Lettuce, tomatoes, corn, black beans, refrained beans, shredded cheese are all put out to build your own. I also mix up a sauce, 1/2 c sour cream, 1/4 c ranch dressing, and a 1/4 c chipotle salsa measurements are approximates.
    I do have special pans for cooking my shells.

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    1. This sounds great! Thank you for sharing your families ideas.

      Fern

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  2. HI Fern! I never thought about making shells that way! What a great tutorial! The taco salads look delicious! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!

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    1. This was one of those, "I think I'll try it once and see if it's edible." experiments that worked. Unfortunately, all of my experiments are not as tasty.

      Thanks, Felecia.

      Fern

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  3. Okay Fern, When are you going to put together a cookbook? This is fabulous! I have a growing collection of your ideas and they just work so well! One thing you might try is grating zest [orange, lemon or lime] over any ground meats you cook..it adds a dash of unique flavor and I often squeeze the juice into any of my skillet mixtures! This meal is on my to do list for Ralph's Sunday Dinner! Thank you!

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    1. You are very kind, Fiona, but I don't plan to write a cookbook.

      I don't usually buy citrus fruit. It's not something we eat much of, so if I need lemon juice, I try to keep a bottle on hand.

      Thanks for sharing your ideas.

      Fern

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  4. Yum! Great tip on making the shell, Fern. I love taco salad.

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    1. It's a quick easy meal and homemade is always better!

      Thanks, Leigh.

      Fern

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  5. That looks delicious Fern! Thank you for sharing!

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    1. You're welcome! Let me know how it turns out if you try it.

      Fern

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  6. Great post, never thought about making my own taco shells! Thanks for sharing your post on the HomeAcre Hop, hope to see you again tomorrow! - Nancy
    On The Home Front

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    1. Thanks, Nancy. You should give it a try, it is fairly easy.

      Fern

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