taco salad

taco salad is one of those dishes that i remember as being such a treat growing up. the last few times i've made it, it's been nothing special, but i wanted to make a really good one this time. i think jake and i both agree that i succeeded. wildly.

recipes are difficult to write, because if i don't make it all up, i use a mixture of recipes i find online and adjust them as i see fit. i'm sure you do the same. especially for salad, you don't need to measure, you just use as much of each ingredient that you think is good, or how much you actually have. aside from the salad dressing, such is this recipe.

kelly's awesome taco salad

1.25 lb ground turkey
half an onion
two cloves garlic
olive oil
cumin
chili powder
cayenne pepper
salt
less than one can pinto beans
less than one can black beans
about 1/2 cup corn kernels
romaine lettuce
half a tomato (because only i eat tomato)
avocado
trader joe's organic white corn tortilla chips

dressing, adapted from martha stewart:
3/4 cup lowfat plain yogurt or light sour cream thinned with milk (i tried both, they taste about the same)
half cup cilantro, very finely minced or just throw all dressing ingredients in the blender
salt
juice from half a lime
a wee bit o' very finely minced jalapeno...i started with about a teaspoon because i didn't want it to be too hot, and it was enough to make it very mild.

so, when i make taco meat, this is how i do it: cook the onion, super finely chopped, and minced garlic in olive oil until very soft (medium low heat) add turkey, salt it, and chop up so it's finely crumbled when cooking is complete. brown, drain the fat. i use a ratio of two parts cumin to one part each chili powder and cayenne pepper, differing amounts depending on how much meat i'm cooking. about two T of cumin for a pound of turkey (or beef). then i add about 3-4 T of unauthentic la victoria red taco sauce. for the salad i added the beans, probably about a cup, just until it looked pretty.

then i just piled the meat/beans on some lettuce, added some corn, tomatoes, half an avocado for each of us, dressing and crumbled up chips. i bought some cheese (pepper jack) for it, but i think it was complete without it!