Versatile hearty salad made with meat, cheese, lettuce and whatever else you like.
It is the middle of March and ridiculously hot already here in Oklahoma. Okay, maybe it isn’t quite that hot but our air conditioner is in need of help, a.k.a. it isn’t cooling. At any rate, it is too hot to make something in the oven for dinner tonight, so I’m changing up my menu and having Taco Salad instead. It’s good to be flexible.
This salad can be fixed in a variety of ways to meet your dietary needs. I’ll be making it TWO ways today! Yep, two ways. Since Sean, Tiffany, and I are doing keto we need high fat, so I’ll be using 73% ground beef. Currently Michael cannot eat beef or he breaks out in a rash and has difficulty breathing, so I’ll fix his with ground turkey. The only other difference will be in what ‘chips’ we use. Michael will use plain tortilla chips and the rest of us will use pork rinds. 
So, let’s get started.
Brown the ground meat.
When it is about half done, I like to season it with salt and pepper.
Now add remaining seasonings. This depends on your tastes. You can simply add a package of taco seasoning or a mix of seasonings like I do. Tiffany doesn’t like purchased taco seasoning, so I’ll use some onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, and chili powder.
Prepare your lettuce. Wash it if it is dirty. We like green leaf lettuce; it has nutrition unlike iceberg.
I put each ingredient in a separate bowl so that each individual can put on the toppings of their choosing. Since this meal was not on my menu when I shopped last week, I don’t have an avocado; thus, we’ll use some sour cream (which I don’t need if we have avocado).
We have tomato, refried beans (for Michael), sour cream, and CHEESE tonight.
Tiffany put a little carrot, green pepper, broccoli, and zucchini in the salad. Seriously, a little of each, like a tablespoon or two. Most times it is just plain lettuce. 
At dinner, everyone will build their salad to their liking. This is mine. Mmmm, mmmm!
Serve with nacho tortilla chips, plain tortilla chips, or to keep it keto use pork rinds.
I crushed up a few in my salad.
Ingredients
- 1-1½ pounds ground meat
- ¼ teaspoon each cumin and garlic powder
- heaping ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon each paprika and onion powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- lettuce
- cheese, your preferred variety
- various veggies on hand, like tomato, onion, green pepper, zucchini, broccoli, carrot, avocado, etc.
- sour cream, optional
Instructions
- Brown the ground meat.
- Season with the listed seasonings.
- Tear washed lettuce leaves into bowl and add in variety of veggies or none at all.
- Serve salad with meat, cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips or pork rinds, as desired.
Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº