Thursday, August 16, 2007

Had a Hard Day? Try This Salad...

After a long day, nothing takes out the frustration like using the mallet in this salad!

I love taco salad. This taco salad recipe is lots of fun to make with a preschooler because you can use a wooden mallet to crush the chips. This salad also uses iceberg lettuce--I know, not the most interesting of greens, but it is kid-friendly and gets them on the path to liking salads.

To make it more interesting and more fun, try layering the different components of the salad in a trifle dish or clear glass bowl. The kiddos like the layered, colorful look of this salad...and hey, any interest in vegetables, even if it is merely visual at first, is a step in the right direction!

While this is a fun recipe for kids, it is nice enough for a light dinner or lunch for us adults too.

Layered Taco Salad

1 small head of iceberg lettuce, chopped into very small pieces (the smaller the more they "blend in")
15 oz can black or kidney beans
15 oz can corn or 2 cups fresh corn
2 cups of shredded 2% milk cheddar cheese
1/2 red pepper diced
3 green onions chopped
half a pint of grape tomatoes, quartered -OR- 3 plum tomatoes, deseeded and diced
4-5 good handfuls of baked tortilla chips (blue corn chips are fun for kids), crushed in a baggie
1/2 cup lite mayo or lite sour cream or fat free plain yogurt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt

Combine the mayo/sour cream/yogurt with cilantro, lime juice, cumin and salt. Layer in bowl 1/2 the lettuce, 1/2 chips, 1/3 of the dressing and then 1/2 the beans, corn, cheese, red pepper, green onion and grape tomatoes. Repeat. Top with remaining dressing.

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