Taco Night!

I love being in the kitchen. Obviously. If I have the time, I truly enjoy spending a couple of hours cooking up an elaborate meal. But life happens and often I don’t have that kind of time to prepare our food. On those days I greatly appreciate my favorite quick and easy go-to recipe. I’m sure most people have some version of “taco night”, and at Casa De Huling, ours happens to be a “taco-less taco night.”

When I was a kid I loved taco night. It was awesome. All that yummy seasoned meat, cheese, and veggies was so fun to assemble on my plate. My mom always set it up like a taco bar, so we could pick and choose what we wanted to have on our plates. Dave and I do our taco night the exact same way, but with a few menu variations.

At first we felt more than a little lost without that humongous, white tortilla to wrap everything up in. I think Dave actually got a little teary-eyed when I told him I would no longer be cooking with tortillas. But after some contemplation, we’ve discovered some equally delicious and far more nutritious alternatives to the tortilla or taco shell. Try any of these ideas as your “taco base”:

Romaine or Iceburg Lettuce
Red or Green Shredded Cabbage
Soaked, Sprouted, and Cooked Quinoa

You can’t rightly have taco night without any meat now, can you? One of the fun things about this meal is that you truly can improvise and it will still taste delicious. I get the best results using lean ground beef, but you can also use ground turkey, ground bison, or ground chicken. If you’re a fan of heat, kick it up a notch and use equal parts of spicy ground pork sausage and ground beef. I have a never fail homemade taco seasoning that I usually make ahead of time and keep in my spice cabinet. Having the seasoning pre-made is definitely a time saver. Here’s my basic taco seasoning recipe:

1 tbsp chili powder
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp oregano
½ tsp paprika
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Brown 1 lb. ground meat and drain off fat, if necessary. Mix 2 tbsp. of the seasoning mix with 1 ½ cups of water and pour over the ground meat. Simmer, covered, for 10-15 minutes. If the seasoning mix is too spicy, omit the red pepper flakes. If you have any leftover, the seasoned ground meat makes a delicious breakfast the next morning. Poach or fry a couple of eggs and serve on top of the ground meat.

I like to include as many veggies as possible in my meals, and taco night is no exception. Of course for the tastiest tacos, homemade guacamole or sliced avocado is mandatory, along with some diced tomatoes and chopped fresh cilantro. Time permitting, I also like to do a fajita type thing and sauté a couple bell peppers, an onion, and a few garlic cloves together and then add to the seasoned meat.

For those of you still eating dairy, adding a bit of cheese or sour cream to the top of your taco is really like putting the icing on the cake (bad analogy for a paleo blog, I know!). Since we don’t usually have sour cream at our house, sometimes I’ll use full fat plain yogurt which adds the texture I like but is lacking a bit in richness. As for the cheese, I know a lot of people like it until it’s bubbling, but I will mention that cheese is much easier to digest when not melted. However, I don’t think a little melted cheese every now and then ever killed anyone :).

So that’s my taco night. You can get as crazy you want with the add-ons or just keep it simple by browning some ground meat with seasoning and throwing it over a few fresh lettuce leaves. Voila. You’ve got your fat, protein, and veggies. Maybe not the most nutrient dense meal you've ever had, but it's easy, it satisfies, and it makes some delicious leftovers for breakfast the next morning!