Easy Taco Salad
I’m back. I still hate cooking.
I think the only reason this recipe qualifies as cooking is because I threw ground beef into a skillet. So…it was, indeed, easy!
First: family picture! Adorable.
Turned on the stove to medium, BUT I learned from a Harmons cooking class (hi, sponsor me) that the joy of a seasoned cast iron skillet is you do not need to put oil into the skillet! That just causes lots of smoke!!! Friends: I learned something at my Harmons cooking class!
Ahem.
Waited for skillet to get hot and added a pound(ish) of ground beef:
Broke up the meat, distributed it evenly around the skillet, and waited for it to get brown.
It started getting toasty in my kitchen, so I opened the back door for a draft from the rainy backyard. Unfortunately, I realized that without my doggo around, I do not need to put a folding chair in place to keep him from wandering out into the yard. :(
While I was caught up in my feelings and not continuing to break up the meat, luckily it was still doing its thang and getting nice and brown. I broke it up a bit more, and after 5 minutes, we were in business:
Removed skillet from the stove and did my darndest to drain the excess fat:
I have no good tactic for doing this and am always disgusted. Help me. Ideas are welcome and better approaches.
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Returned skillet to stove but admired excess-less-fat meat:
Added 1/2 cup of water and a packet of taco seasoning:
Stirred the seasoning, upped the heat to make the water boil, and then lowered it again because that’s what the directions said to do. Let it cook for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile…
Prepped the other ingredients, including the black beans:
Opened the pico:
Gave myself a cheese tax since my dog is dead:
Wondered if my greens truly smelled weird or if I just fear getting diarrhea from them. It’s possible I just don’t sniff enough greens to really know:
Once meat was done, started assembling my bowl with chips, meat, beans, pico, cheese, and one piece of lettuce to say I added a green without risking diarrhea (not a word you want to read in a “cooking” blog; definitely not a word you want to read twice). Then I remembered I bought an avocado and got work on that guy:
After that, I sat myself at my table (aka my coffee table because I’m a monster):
Opened a Hazy IPA, toasted Mary McDonnell and her work on Major Crimes, mourned the empty dog bed and lack of dog badgering me for a bite, and dug in:
Not bad. But then again, it’s hard to f*ck up easy taco salad….
