Turkey Taco Salad For Hot Weather

I'm not big on Mexican food most of the time but burritos, quesadillas, and this taco salad are all great hot weather dishes. I make burritos when I have leftover chili and cooked rice. I add some guacamole and plain yogurt to mine, plus some cheese to Sweetie's.

This taco salad is nice because you can make the cooked part during the cooler part of the day and then mix the rest of the ingredients together at mealtime. This recipe makes enough for 8 generous servings. If you are serving fewer people, don't mix the lettuce or avocado in. Keep those in separate bags and just serve portions to mix with a similar portion of the turkey mixture.

I leave out the cheese and tomatoes and add those in for Sweetie once I have my serving. Fortunately I think Sweetie can eat almost anything with his cast iron stomach.

If you don't have an easy source for ground turkey, use ground chicken or ground beef. It will still be delicious...and cool.

TURKEY TACO SALAD 

serves 8-10   

1 pound ground turkey browned, crumbled and drained.

1 Tbs. olive oil

1- 1 oz. package taco seasoning

1 15 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 large can pitted olives cut into ¼ or sliced

1 green, red or yellow pepper sliced and chopped

1 red onion sliced thin and chopped

1 pt. cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half.

1 avocado, cut into chunks

1 large or 2 small heads iceberg lettuce washed, drained

and chilled then shredded thin.

½ lb. Mexican mix cheese or Monterey and jack cheddar blend

sharp cheddar
1 7 oz. bag taco flavored chips
1 8 oz. French dressing

 

Cook the turkey:

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil and add the ground turkey and cook for about 7 minutes, until the turkey loses the pink color.  Use a wooden spoon to break the meat apart carefully while it cooks.  Carefully drain off any liquid then stir in the taco seasoning—cook for 1 minute more. Add the kidney beans. Slice the olives and add. Refrigerate to cool.

Chop the pepper, onion, tomatoes and lettuce. Peel the avocado and remove the pit, then cut into chunks. (If not eating the whole salad at once, reserve lettuce not needed and be sure to also reserve proportional amount of meat mixture once everything is mixed. Coat some avocado with lemon oil to keep it from turning brown and save that in a separate bag.)

When ready to serve, mix chopped pepper and onion into the meat mixture. Fold in the halved tomatoes, avocado chunks and the mixed cheese. Place the lettuce in a large salad bowl. Top with the meat mixture, then the French dressing. Stir to combine. Top with the taco flavored chips (or tortilla chips). Break up the chips a little before putting them on the salad.

Serve at once.

SHOPPING LIST:

1 lb. ground turkey

 1 oz. pkg. taco seasoning

1 15 oz. can kidney beans

1 6 oz. to 8 oz. can olives

1 pepper of your choice, red, green or yellow

1 red or sweet onion

1 pt. cherry or grape tomatoes

1 avocado

1 large or 2 small heads iceberg lettuce

½ lb. cheese (8 oz.)Mexican mix—Monterey, Sharp cheddar, jack.

1 8 oz. French dressing

1 7 oz. bag taco favored chips or tortilla chips