By Alysha Melnyk

There’s nothing like a fresh and easy salad for a weekday meal! I love taco salads because they are so easy to make, but can also use a number of fresh ingredients you may have tucked in your refrigerator or need to use. Get creative and enjoy!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• 1 Pound Meat or Meat Alternative (I used lean ground beef, but you could substitute another meat type, beans, etc.) 
• Taco Seasoning of Choice (Here is a recipe I like to use: Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe or you can use a store bought blend)
• 1 Head of Lettuce/Bag of Mixed Greens (torn into bite sized pieces)
• 2 Bell Peppers
• 3 Sweet Peppers
• 2 Tomatoes, Diced
• Optional Additions: Cucumber, Sweet Onion, Shishito Peppers
• Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream
• Cheese of Choice
• Tortilla Chips
• Black Pepper

Directions

1. First, cook your ground beef or warm your meat alternative.
2. While that’s cooking, chop up your taco salad vegetables (lettuces, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, etc.).
3. After meat or meat alternative is cooked through/warmed, I add taco spices and allow everything to simmer for around 5 minutes.
4. While this is happening, I plate my lettuce/mixed greens. When the meat/meat alternative is done, I add that directly on top.
5. Then, I add all my vegetables of choice, a scoop of sour cream/greek yogurt, cheese, black pepper and some tortilla chips on the side.
6. Enjoy!

Alysha Melnyk is the Founder and Content Creator of The Kitchenologist©, a food blog dedicated to healthy eating and kitchen experiments. Alysha combined her background in biology with her passion for making food delicious, eye-catching, and accessible. When she’s not cooking in the kitchen or dreaming up a recipe, Alysha works full time as an Implementation Specialist at ECRI, an international medical nonprofit located in suburban Philadelphia that is dedicated to improving patient safety worldwide. Alysha finds her many career passions revolve around the power of knowledge and that equipping people with the right tools and resources will help them make better informed decisions.