It seems I have gone AWOL from this poor little blog lately. These things happen. For the last month, we have been hopping from one activity to another. Dance and T-Ball on Monday, Taekwondo on Tuesday and Thursday, T-Ball again on Friday. Of course there is also work at the winery, writing for the newspaper, and lets not forget laundry. The never ending laundry. The garden is also becoming more and more productive, there fore requiring more of my attention.
I will not complain about the garden. It is my happy little oasis in the corner of our yard. So far, we have gotten several delicious strawberries out of our patch as well as radishes, spinach and lettuce. And I am pretty excited to say that I will have fresh Summer squash a good month ahead of everyone else.
The point of all this rambling is to say that I have become well acquainted with the uber-quick dinner. More than once dinner has been a grilled cheese sandwich and a bunch of grapes or some much unhealthier version of that. Lucky for me, BBQ season has started and thanks to my husband, our fridge is well stocked with lots of smoked and pulled meat. While BBQ sandwiches are always delicious, sometimes I need something with a vegetable on it ( call me crazy!). So, because I never throw away my food magazines I adapted a Food&Wine recipe to fit what I had in the fridge. I made this with chopped brisket but it will also work well with chicken, pork or even some grilled white fish.
Ingredients
- 8 taco shells the crispy ones
- 5 ½ T cooking oil any kind will do
- 2-15 oz – cans kidney beans drained and rinsed
- ½ cup tomato salsa
- ¾ t . salt
- 1 ½ T wine vinegar red or white
- ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ t . black pepper
- ¼ t . chili powder
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 head lettuce romaine or iceburg
- 2 large tomatoes diced
- 1 avocado thinly sliced
- 1 cup cooked kernel corn
- ½ small onion diced
- ¼ pound of shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 pound warm shredded meat ( brisket pork or chicken)
- 1/3 cup black olives
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350. Place the taco shells on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 8 minutes. Break each one in half and set aside.
- In a sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the beans, salsa, and a ¼ t. of salt to the pan. Using a potato masher, stir and mash the beans for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, remaining salt, mustard, pepper, and chili powder. Add in the remaining oil and whisk until the dressing looks creamy. Stir in the cilantro.
- Spread a spoonful of bean mixture on each taco shell half and place 4 on each plate. Top with layers of lettuce, tomatoes, onion, corn, meat, cheese, olives, and avocado. Drizzle each salad with dressing and serve!
I LOVE IT.Thanks for your post.I will review it again.Recipes