Thoughts From My Little Corner: Taco.......Polo!

We were still experiencing steal-your-breath humidity last week when my Dad came over to spend some time in the pool with us. I don't know how I got on the subject of food (it's never far from my thoughts so it's not too difficult) but we were talking about the taco salad I make. Yes, I make it and no, there isn't much cooking involved so you can see how it is a possibility that I might be able to handle such a task, unsupervised even! Shortly after that, my girls begged us to play Marco Polo, so we indulged and my Dad was "It" first. I thought he kept saying "Taco" instead of "Marco"...so when he tagged me I finally said, "Dad, ya know it's "Marco" right? And he laughed and said that's what he was saying...so now I was "It" and every time I said , "Marco" the wise ass said "Chili pepper"....this, people, explains a lot about my warped sense of humor. So now, instead of playing "Marco...polo"...we play "Taco...chili pepper".

Back to the taco salad. I will admit the photo below is not the most enticing...as a matter of fact, you may look at it and think, "Eww...not too appetizing!"...sorry about that...I'm usually pretty good at the food photos...but I think I was tired and didn't want to try to find a pretty bowl to put it in. Every time I make it, people rave about and I can't take credit for it. About 12 1/2 years ago I worked at Collette Tours and my friend, Suzanne, and I were pregnant with the exact same due date. Our friends from work gave us a baby shower together and it was great. It was held at one of our friends' houses, Joanna. She was the one who gave me this recipe after I had some that day and had to be able to make it at home. I could not believe how easy it was!

So here is the recipe:

One head of lettuce, chopped up (I use a bag of the bagged lettuce, romaine)
One bag of Tostitos, crunched up
One pound of hamburg, cooked and crumbled (I usually use 2 pounds)
One green pepper, chopped up (I usually use a red pepper)
One tomato, chopped up
One bunch of scallions, chopped up
One package of taco seasoning (I use Old El Paso)
One package of shredded taco cheese
One bottle of creamy Italian dressing (large bottle)

Mix everything together and chill for about an hour before serving. A couple of helpful hints: don't mix together until you are ready to chill then serve right away - the chips get soggy. I sometimes cut everything up and cook the hamburg and store in the fridge overnight, then mix everything together right before serving. Also, leftovers dry out really fast; you can add lots of things to moisten the salad to eat the next day - I've added more salad dressing, even if it's not the same kind (see, I'm not even going by a recipe for this...I'm winging it! Me...the one who doesn't cook!), I've added a little mayo, or even tza tziki. (For those of you not familiar with tza tziki, I'll have a post on that at another time). Anyhoo, you must run out to get these ingredients and make this taco salad....like right now....ok not really...but you should try it soon...I know you'll like it, and people will tell you how great it is and that you are such a good cook...then they'll always want you to cook something fabulous for them...hmmm...I'm starting to see why I don't cook....ok maybe you can make the salad and just eat it all yourself? Anyway, enjoy!

I thought you might like to see some of my morning glories. I planted three packages of morning glory seeds in the Spring. Two of the packages have really taken off, winding their way up our fence. When I was growing up I remember these blue flowers growing around our garage door. I thought they were great. Up until last week, only one of the packages had bloomed and they are all hot pink and dark purple...very pretty...but I still wanted the blue ones. The buds are amazing the way they grow...they're all rolled up perfectly, then they gently unfold. I finally got my blue ones this last week: