Taco Salad

A perfect dressing for this salad is (clutch your pearls everyone, there is a bottled dressing suggestion ahead) is a half and half mix of Thousand Island dressing and a hot as you like it salsa. You're welcome.

While this is not a healthy meal, Fritos and Doritos are terrible junk food - so high in salt they’re almost inedible. Try a good quality blue corn chip like Bearitos.

This is the quintessential Seventh-day Adventist meal and is referred to as "haystacks." I prefer mine with homemade guacamole, black beans (or chili beans, or both), salsa, a blend of romaine and spinach, cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and Chili Cheese Fritos.

I use a stainless dough blender or potato masher to breakup ground beef when cooking. Also, browning half a pound at a time (while lengthening prep time) allows for more pan contact and better browning.

I skip the meat and season warmed pinto beans with cumin. I add it to romaine lettuce, shredded cheese, avocado, red onion, tomatoes, tortilla chips and (horrors) Catalina dressing. It's a go to for a quick, meatless, summer meal....been loving it since the 80's.

There’s a Girl Scout version of this recipe called “Walking Tacos.” Start with a small individual bag of Fritos, add cooked taco meat and whatever additions you like: beans, onion, tomato, avocado, lettuce, etc. Clean up was easier and the kids loved it.

Add fresh off the cob corn that’s slightly cooked.

When I was growing up we did this with Doritos.

1/2 sour cream and 1/2 salsa (herdez please) and a squirt of lime all blended together is the salad dressing for this at our house! Also any Mexican cheese instead of cheddar, and soy curls for the veg version.

homemade guajillo tomatillo salsa. I toast dried guajillo chilies, dried Chile Morita, and dried Chile Pasillo and 2 garlic cloves in a pan with a tbsp canola oil. Then I put six tomatillos and one sliced white onion in the pan until bruised and soft. Last, place all in a blender, with two tablespoons white vinegar, and two tablespoons water. It beats Pace Picante store bought brands ("New York City!")

I grew up eating this in the 80s. Our version came from the back of a french dressing bottle. Need to add the dressing to take this up a notch, as well as Ranch style beans (rinsed) instead of plain beans. No avacado or sour cream needed. It’s the best!!

Skip the corn chip base and stick with crumbled on top to make it a bit healthier anyways, I uses red salsa and sour cream as a dressing. And sub Juanitas corn chips- any Oregonian will agree!!

To crumble ground meat, first add a few tablespoons water to pan and then add meat. Stir around vigorously when water evaporates the meat will be loose and will brown easily. Also, the leaner the meat is the harder to break up.

It's the summer version of a Frito pie. You can just put everything on the table and let folks assemble their own. I like a nice dose of pickled jalapeños on top.

The Ta-Cup was one of my favorite things about going to Disneyland as a kid. I think it helped to shape and elevate my immature palate. Thank you for eliciting some fond memories.