I wasn't really sure how this would go over as it's something new, and new is generally a
dirty word in my house. An even dirtier word: change. The kids like things how they like things
and well, you know how that song goes.
But thanks to the convergence of a few weird things we have been introduce
to Taco Night. And shockingly, it was a huge hit. And even more shockingly, the
whole thing was very easy.
This is what you will need:
One box of tacos. The ones I bought (pictured below) even had 6 grams of fiber in each one!
1 onion
olive oil
2 lbs of ground turkey (or ground whatever you like)
1 28oz can of tomato sauce
3 plum tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1/2 head of romaine lettuce
1 bag of cole slaw mix or shredded cabbage
sugar
soy milk
Italian dressing
ketchup
mayonnaise
It seems like a lot of ingredients, but it's mostly just chopping things.
oil. Add in the ground meat, breaking it up with a fork and cooking it until
it's cooked through all the way. Pour the can of tomato sauce over the meat,
cover and and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, uncover the pan
halfway and let the sauce cook, reducing itself until it's pretty thick. Stir it
every minute or so to keep it from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan.
I let it reduce for not more than five minutes, tops.
While the meat was initially cooking, I chopped the vegetables. I set out
four bowls and filled them with corn, diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers and
shredded lettuce. I could see this being really good with a diced avocado or
some red onions but my kids would never touch those, so we stuck with what we
know.
In a larger bowl, I made the cole slaw. Mix 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
with 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoons Italian dressing and 1 tablespoon soymilk
or water. Add the bag of cole slaw mix to the bowl and mix well.
As a final part of Taco Night, I made salad dressing. I wasn't sure what
kind to make, so I went with my old childhood standby of fake Russian
dressing. Just mix 2 parts mayonnaise to 1 part ketchup and add in 1/2 tsp of
olive oil. Mix well and you're done.
I put some of the cole slaw (the bag of cole slaw makes a ton) in a smaller
bowl and I put the Russian dressing in a very small bowl. I put all the
vegetable bowls around it and a big plate of the taco meat in the middle.
stand at the counter and pick what they wanted to put inside their taco shell.
They each built their own taco while I breathed deeply and watched tomato and
cucumber pieces fall to floor.
They tasted, they liked and they hugged me in the middle of dinner! I don't
remember the last time they all said yum at the same time, let alone got out of
their seats to say thank you. I'm guessing we're going to be doing Taco Night
again next week.