:: Healthy Taco Salad ::
Confession: When my husby is home from work… I do very little cooking. With our new life in the mountains, he not only does 100% of the grocery shopping, but also cooks, so I can focus on homeschooling our four little ones. We eat very well when he is home! He’s super creative in the kitchen {thanks to the near decade he’s spent as a firefighter}. I am truly one lucky wifey!
This healthy Taco Salad is one of our family favorites. We love it because it is so versatile, quick, and easy to prepare. You can basically cut up and add-in any fresh veggies you have on hand from your garden or market. {For meat lovers… you can grill up some chicken, or prepare ground turkey, or lean ground beef to add to the salad.} To be honest… I rarely use dressing, instead I mash up the avocado and add a dollop of salsa. {If you like sour cream or plain greek yogurt, it would make it even creamier!} For those of you that love a simple dressing… a Creamy Cilantro Avocado or Italian drizzled on top tastes divine!
What we particularly love about this simple family meal is that everyone likes it! Two of our children prefer it prepared “bowl style” where we dish and mix all-in-one bowl. The other two {our oldest boys}, like everything separated on a plate. We present it to them as colorful piles of veggies, beans, cheese, meat {when we have it on hand}, salsa, and lots of tortilla chips! It makes for an easy, yet healthy, lunch or dinner! We seriously eat this twice a week!
*To change things up… instead of crumbling tortilla chips on top, you can roll the ingredients up in a tasty corn or flour tortilla!
Healthy Taco Salad {vegetarian}
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of Romaine Lettuce or bag of Mixed Salad Greens rinsed & chopped
- 2 Tomatoes seeded & chopped
- 1 Yellow Bell Pepper cut into strips or pieces
- 3 medium sized Carrots grated
- 1 fresh Avocado sliced {just prior to serving}
- 1 can of Black Beans rinsed & drained
- 1 can of Kidney Beans rinsed & drained
- 1/2 cup Queso Fresco Cheese {or similar} crumbled
- Tortilla Chips {roughly crumbled on top of salad} or Tortilla Strips
- Optional {add-in} Ingredients:
- Black Olives
- Corn
- Red Onion
- Cilantro
- Salsa
- Sour Cream or Plain Greek Yogurt
Instructions
- After thoroughly rinsing and chopping vegetables, toss with all other salad ingredients until combined. Crumble cheese and tortilla chips over the top of the salad and drizzle with your dressing of choice. Enjoy!
