Aria's First Laugh

Today, Cadence and Finn were throwing balloons in the air and Aria started laughing at them for the first time (I'm sure she will find many more opportunities to laugh at them in the future). I was so happy to capture it on video.

So I had my friend Karen, whom I went to school with in Prague, over for lunch today and I wanted to share the recipe. I made taco salad and it tasted great, looked fancy and was really easy to make. If you don't want to make the Tortilla Shells you could just throw in some tortilla chips instead, but they make the dish look really nice and they are super easy to make. Also, I made the Thousand Island Dressing because I didn't have any bottled, but I had all the ingredients to make it, but you could substitute bottled dressing to make things easier and quicker (though it didn't take long to make at all. I just made it the night before).

Recipe Highlight:

Taco Salad

Tortilla Shells

3/4 C Thousand Island Dressing

1 pound lean ground beef

2/3 C. water

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)

1 can kidney beans, drained and can reserved

1 medium head lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

1 C. shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)

2/3 C. sliced ripe olives

2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium avocado, thinly sliced

Sour cream, if desired

1. Make Tortilla Shells and Thousand Island Dressing (see below)

2. Cook beef (I used turkey) in 10" skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. Stir in water, chili powder, salt garlic powder, red pepper and beans (if you don't have these ingredients you could probably substitute taco seasoning). Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool 10 minutes.

3. Mix lettuce, cheese, olives, tomatoes and onion in large bowl (I don't really like olives and onions, so I left them out). Toss with dressing. Add beef mixture and toss. Divide among Tortilla Shells. Garnish with avocado and sour cream (I didn't have these, so I left them off).

Tortilla Shells

Reserved empty kidney bean can

Vegetable oil

8 flour tortillas (10 inches in diameter)

1. Remove label and both ends of kidney bean can. Wash can and dry thoroughly. (Or use a metal ladle if you have one).

2. Heat oil (1 1/2 inches) in 3-quart saucepan to 375 or medium to medium-high heat. (Diameter of saucepan should be at least 9 inches).

3. Place 1 tortilla on top of saucepan. Push tortilla into oil by gently pushing can down with tongs or with metal ladle.

4. Fry tortilla about 5 seconds or until set; remove can or ladle. Fry tortilla 1 to 2 minutes longer, turning in oil, until crisp and golden brown.

5. Carefully remove tortilla from oil, and drain excess oil from inside. Turn tortilla shell upside down on paper towels; cool.

6. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Thousand Island Dressing

1 C. mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. shopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp. chopped pimiento-stuffed olives

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 tsp. finely chopped onion

1/2 tsp. paprika

1 Hard-Cooked Egg, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients. Store covered in refrigerator.