Beat the Heat with Taco Salad...

I will be occasionally recommending ways to beat the heat and offering recipes and tips to help in that quest throughout the summer. Of course it isn't hot here yet, but since I occasionally get readers from other states and even other countries I thought I would post a summer recipe anyhow. (Plus I can't think of anything else to blog about right now.)

My Father in Law got us a set of Tortilla bakers for Christmas a couple of years ago. You can get them in two sizes but ours are the larger size. They fit the burrito sized tortillas we get at Costco perfectly. Basically all you have to do is place a tortilla in the pan, and bake it at 350 for about ten minutes to get a nice crispy bowl for Taco Salad. We have four bakers so in 20 minutes of baking I have enough bowls for all of us. I recommend pricking each tortilla with a fork several times to avoid your bowl getting air bubbles that expand during baking. To make sure the tortilla is snugly molded to the pan I usually put another pan on top of the tortilla and press it down. After taking the top pan off your tortilla should stay in place nicely. I also recommend making your tortilla bowls first thing in the morning before your house gets warm. That way you aren't contributing to the heat too much. You could even make them the night before and put them in a plastic bag once they are cooled down. They will stay crisp just fine that way.

Once you have the bowls done, all you have to do is decide what you want in your salad. For us we usually get the bagged salad from Costco. I cook up some meat (we use turkey burger) with Taco Seasoning, heat up some refritos (refried beans) and open a can of kidney beans or black beans. Grated cheese is also a must of course. You can feel free to add other ingredients such as sliced olives, onions, fresh tomatoes, sunflower seeds and etc. We also have tortilla chips with this meal. For me I usually spread some refritos on the bottom of my tortilla bowl, add the salad, meat, cheese and kidney beans. For dressing I use salsa and sour cream. (Our kids are not into salsa so they use Ranch dressing. D hates sour cream so he just uses Salsa for his dressing.) How you eat it is entirely up to you. After he gets his salad all together, D turns the bowl over and crushes it up to mix it in. I personally eat all the salad and then eat the bowl after. To each his own. The kids love having Taco Salad because they get to eat the bowl, and how much more fun can you get than that? All in all Taco Salad is a filling meal, and you don't have to heat up the whole house to make it. You can choose healthier options like whole wheat Tortillas...they work just as well for making the bowls, and because you bake the bowls you aren't adding any fat to get the bowls crispy.

Of course if you don't want to go out and buy a set of tortilla bakers you can just have the salad part and use tortilla chips with it. It will still be good and keep your house cool in the summer. Enjoy!