Whole30: Taco Salad

I have officially made it to Day 10 of my Whole30!! Second week, baby! I've definitely had my ups and downs, but I'm feeling pretty good about myself and I'm excited to see my results at the end of this.

I wanted to mention that while I am on a "diet" exercise is very important to my results. My plan is to exercise 1 hour a day, 5 days a week. Unfortunatley I strained my thigh muscle during my husband's office softball game (while running to first) and I haven't been able to make it to the gym as much as I want. Excuses, excuses, I really need to pick it up, I know.

So, I was planning on blogging about a recipe for chicken lettuce wraps that I found on the Whole30 website, however I decided to talk about one of my favorite recipes that I've made in the last two weeks: Taco Salad. This is my first blog about a recipe that I put together myself, although I did model it after several established recipes. I hope you like it!




Taco Salad

Taco Meat - For this I looked up a recipe for homemade taco seasoning. This one is from Bill Echols at Allrecipes.com

1 lb ground beef (or any other ground meat)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tp 3/4 cup water

Brown meat and discard grease. Add as much of the seasoning as you'd like (I use half) and the water (depending on how much seasoning you used). Cook until water is gone and the seasoning has mixed with the meat.

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette - This is a knock off Cafe Rio recipe which I changed to be Whole30 compliant.

6 Tbsp oil - I used olive oil. (Originally, the recipe called for half olive, half vegetable)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 small hot pepper, finely chopped (I used a tiny bit of Jalapeno)
Juice from one lime or to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
If it's not sweet enough feel free to add more lime juice or even orange juice to taste.

Combine all ingredients and let sit for at least ten minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Sweet Potato Chips - I used these on my second salad and I thought they added a lot. This recipe was originally from paleogrubs.com.

1 sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced.
1 Tbsp. oil (coconut preferrably)
Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sweet potato slices with oil and salt and lay flat on a baking sheet. Make sure the potato slices are VERY thin, use a mandolin unless you have a real talent for paper thin slices, otherwise they won't cook properly and won't get crispy. Cook for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and cook another ten minutes. Take any chips that start to brown out of the oven, they won't be good burnt. Obviously.

Putting the Salad together:

Chop up some romaine lettuce, add the meat and chips, and drizzle with salad dressing. I added cut up avocado and fresh cilantro. Feel free to add whatever you like, I like to keep things pretty simple.

This is a really tasty meal that doesn't make you feel like you're on a diet. I love making mexican food at home and I can almost forget that there's no beans or cheese when I eat this salad. I'm giving this recipe a big: SUCCESS.