What’s For Dinner? #1 – Taco Bowls

s promised, the first installment of “What’s for Dinner?” is finally here! Every other Monday we’ll be sharing a meal, from our dinner table, to yours.

Tonight’s dinner? Taco bowls! Not quite the traditional fanfare you were thinking? Well, that’s because, for the most part, we keep things simple, implementing traditional practices when possible and where applicable!

Dinners shouldn’t be difficult or strenuous, and they shouldn’t take days to prepare. The biggest hurdle in getting healthy meals on the table each night is planning ahead.

These taco bowls can be adapted to your preference or what you have on hand. What meat is in your freezer? What meat is on sale? Have sliced venison steaks? Delicious! Ground beef? Yum! Leftover chicken? Shred it and you’re good to go! No meat at all? Throw on some black beans and be a part of the “Meat Free Monday” crowd!

You can sub out the rice for quinoa or barley…or skip the grain all together! Most of the time I up the veggies and limit the rice and beans…making my taco bowl more like a taco salad. (I mix together salsa and sour cream for the most delicious “dressing”, too!)

The world is your oyster…or taco bowl? The variations are as limitless as your imagination. So get creative!

And please, for the love of Francis…make your own taco seasoning! I’ve added the recipe below! Making your own seasoning blends saves you buckets of money and you’ll avoid dining on MSG. A win-win for sure!

To make: The night before, cook up a pot of rice following the package instructions, adding 2 Tbs coconut oil for every cup of rice. Aim to have approximately 1/2 cup rice per person. Once rice is cooked, cool and store it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours. Also be sure to take your meat out of the freezer if it needs to defrost.

Step 1: Dice up your onion, add oil to pan and saute onions until translucent. Add ground beef and cook through. Season with taco seasoning (to taste) and set aside.

Step 2: Remove rice from refrigerator, add to a pot with some water and reheat.

Cooking rice, cooling it down, then reheating it is said to up the resistant starch in the rice, adding valuable indigestible fiber that our tummies love, remember those prebiotics? 

Step 3: Open up a can of black beans (or whichever beans strike your fancy) and heat.

Step 4: Time to dice, chop, slice and scoop. Dice up your tomatoes and olives, chop up your lettuce (nice and thin…it’s better that way!) and cilantro, slice up your lime wedges, and scoop out your avocado, sour cream and salsa into bowls.

Step 5: At this point, everything should be about ready! Grab your bowl and dish it up the way you like it!

Like quick and easy weeknight meals?

Then you’re sure to love this cookbook: Busy Family Slow Cooker Solutions, the recipes are simple and your crockpot does all the hard work for you!