Taco Salad

This is a very flexible taco salad - use what you have.  It's one of our family's favorites!

Set your salad ingredients aside - we happen to like lettuce and tomatoes with drained and rinsed black beans, grated cheese and fritos.  I like to add green onions and avocado, but I was out of that today.  I've been know to buy bagged salad to make this even easier, but I still have to cut up tomatoes and drain beans, so there's no real time savings there.  Plus, it's not frugal, which is what I'm all about these days!

Chop up and mix all your salad stuff while you saute the meat.  Drain it well and season with salt, cumin, garlic, and about 1/2 c. picante sauce.  Season this up however you like, but don't bother with taco seasoning packets unless you are plumb out of spices.  They charge a lot for a little spice and this way you can get it just like you like it!

Let it cool.

Then toss it into your salad, top with fritos, and pass the dressing.  Try it with Catalina - very sweet and delish  or, try the creamy jalapeno - my personal favorite.

This is great for very hot summer nights and it all gets eaten up!
Even better if I have disposable plates (: