My Sister's Taco Salad

On the menu tonight...... Taco Salad!!!!! Serve this salad on a hot day for a perfect summer meal minus the stove. I don't know about you but when I hear Taco Salad, my sister Barb's recipe is the one that comes to mind. The first time I had this salad was about 20 years ago. I lived with my oldest sister and she made her Taco Salad recipe. I had never had it prepared this way, but I was instantly hooked. This recipe contains traditional ingredients such as lettuce, tomatoes, beans, ground beef, cheese, black olives and tortilla chips. But this salad has a twist with a different non traditional ingredient "French Dressing". When I heard that she added french dressing, the first thought that I had was no way!!! I don't think I am going to like this, well I gave it a try and now this is the only way I will prepare Taco Salad. So thanks sissy this one is definitely a keeper. I cant believe it's been so long since I tasted this for the first time. Oh how time flies by. You can adjust the amount of dressing added at the end. I prefer not to add the whole bottle, but everyone is different. Just taste the salad as you add the dressing and find you own personal preference.

Recipe Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef (browned)
1 can light red kidney beans
2 tomatoes, cubed
1/4 - 12 head lettuce, cut or shredded
1 - pkg. taco seasoning mix (i use taco bell)
1 - sm. can sliced black olives, drained
1 - 8 oz package shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 of bag Tortilla Chips (Tostitos, Doritos Corn, or Mission, etc)
1/2 - 1 - 8oz bottle Creamy French Salad Dressing or Catalina Dressing

Brown ground beef and drain any grease. Add taco seasoning mix & water to beef mixture and cook according to package directions. Set ground beef mixture aside to cool. While the meat is cooling cup up you veggies.

These are the ingredients you will need.

Cut up the lettuce. I like mine in bigger chunks instead of shredding the it. Add to a large bowl cut tomatoes and add to your bowl, then add the black olives. With the big tomato scare and the FDA saying we cannot eat some of the tomatoes (Red Romas or Round Red Tomatoes) due to the Salmonella scare goodness what would taco salad be without tomatoes!!!! no worries here...... I am so glad i do not have to go out and actually buy tomatoes, I am so lucky that we grow our own tomatoes so we have plenty every year. So be careful when purchasing your tomatoes. Always wash them first before adding to any dish but that's just common knowledge.

Add cooled meat mixture, cheese, kidney beans and taco chips. I break my chips into pieces and I don't add all of the chips to the salad or they will get soggy.

Finally add the French Dressing and toss together. At this point you can taste the salad and see how much dressing you would like to add, it can be anywhere from 1/2 of the bottle or you can add the whole thing its really your own preference.


add Salad to a large serving bowl and dig in. If you want more chips you can add them to each bowl. This is really the best Taco Salad i have ever had.