We haven't had taco salad in a couple months, so I decided to make it. This time, I added a few extra bits to try and make it a bit more special. Parts of it worked, while I would change a few things the next time I make this. I know most people will tell you that taco salad is the worst thing to order on the menu at a Mexican restaurant, but just bear with me and you'll see that in this case, homemade is the better route in this case.
First of all, ditch the chalupa (this is the fried tortilla bowl most taco salads come in; it's deep fried, which means excess fat that will kill a diet in its tracks if you're not careful). Your waistline will thank you. Second, most restaurants use iceberg lettuce in their taco salads. Not only is it very low in fiber, the only nutritional value that you can derive from it is water, so you're much better off going with a dark, leafy green like Romaine lettuce. Finally, use a lot of vegetables. Tomatoes are pretty standard, as are avocados, and some members of my family will even use canned peas.
One of the two biggest changes I made in comparison to last time was I added canned jalapeno slices to my ground beef this time. It added a nice zing to the meat; the problem was it was too spicy for my liking, which is a rarity. The other big change was we made our own refried beans, which is to say, we pureed some canned pinto beans and fried them in grapeseed oil with spices and cheese. There were a couple smaller changes, like the fact that I added cotija cheese to the cheese mix and used low fat Greek yogurt as a topping on the salad itself to help cut the heat.
Will and I both agreed that the beans were great, but the beef needed fewer jalapenos. Now I know for future reference and am glad I took the risk and tried something new.
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