Are you in need of an easy quick recipe for dinner? No matter how busy you are, your family still needs to eat. If you're the cook, dinner can become an insurmountable problem on a busy day. Take-out gets boring pretty quickly and puts a strain on the pocket book as well.

Lets face it, half the battle is in planning ahead. When you know the menu, and have the meat thawed, then an easy quick recipe like this one is a snap. If the dinner hour approaches with no plan in mind, then a lot of energy will be expended in the planning and shopping. With a few simple recipes and planned ahead menus you can have dinner on the table in double time.

This Taco Salad recipe is a staple at our house. Some people like the corn chips mixed into the salad, others like to eat the chips separately. If you want to mix it all up before serving that's ok also. You could add canned pinto or kidney beans that have drained and warmed. I like to serve it just like this. Some people use Thousand Island Dressing instead of the sour cream. The great thing about this meal is that the salad, meat and starch are all included in the one recipe. This is easy to double. I will usually cook extra meat for my freezer, giving me an additional easy quick meal in the future.

Taco Salad

1 pound ground beef

1 package taco seasoning mix

½ large or 1 small head of lettuce, shredded

1 avocado, sliced or diced

½ green bell pepper, sliced thin or diced

½ large diced onion

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

¼ cup black olives, sliced

1 package corn chips

1 jar salsa

½ cup sour cream, fat free sour cream works fine

1. Prepare the taco meat according to seasoning package directions and let simmer until ready to serve.
2. Shred the lettuce and dice the vegetables.
3. I like to put out all the ingredients in separate bowls and let each person mix their own salad.
4. Start with a bed of shredded lettuce, add vegetables. Top with the hot meat, then the cheese. A dollop of sour cream goes on top and surround with corn chips.

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Diane Watkins is a traditional southern style cook. She enjoys cooking, teaching, and writing about good food and family. For more information on southern cooking and recipes for everything you need to complete a traditional style holiday meal, visit her website Easy Southern Cooking at http://www.easysoutherncooking.com

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