Taco Salad

My daughter loves taco night, but gone are the days of the packaged taco seasoning mix that she loves.  Now I make my own, with a little help from Cross Fit El Paso. I've got to say, the combination of spices is awesome and tastes quite similar to the packaged mix. Aly doesn't even know the difference. Give this one a try...you will probably already have all of the seasonings in your pantry. You can modify the salad ingredients to whatever you have on hand. The dressing has only three ingredients but a great flavor. The El Pato tomato sauce gives it quite a kick, so opt for a milder tomato sauce if you prefer. I used my taco salad leftovers to top my eggs at breakfast

Seasoning blend adapted from crossfitelpaso.com.


Serves 3-4.

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
Spice Blend
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp onion powder
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 cup warm water
Dressing
1 ripe avocado
3/4 cup tomato sauce (I used 1 can of El Pato Mexican Hot Style Tomato Sauce.)
1/2 lime, juiced
Salad
1 sweet red pepper, cored and diced
1 bunch salad greens
1 cup of your favorite salsa (I used fresh salsa from the salad bar.)
1 can sliced black olives

Preparation

1. Cook ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Drain fat, if necessary. (I find that grass-fed ground beef requires no draining.)
2. Combine spices in a small bowl. Add water and whisk together.
3. Add spice liquid to cooked ground beef. Stir to combine and simmer over medium low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 10-15 minutes.
4. While taco meat cooks, place avocado, tomato sauce, and lime juice in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. (Be warned, the dressing is not a very attractive color, but it tastes great!)
5. To serve, place salad greens in a bowl. Top with red pepper, ground beef, dressing, salsa, and black olives. Enjoy!