Tacos

Kelan tells me that I shouldn't JUST write about the odd things I make up, but should also report on "normal" meals we have. I guess that's a good idea, because even if it's something you already make, it may have slipped your mind. And this blog is hopefully a source of ideas. I guess they don't all have to be new ideas.
So I'll tell you about tacos at our house. Of course, they're not necessarily normal here...

We take all the ingredients below and spread them out on the kitchen counter. Then you go down & make your own taco like a buffet line. Otherwise, you drag 400 things to the table and have to pass 400 things around the table and then have to drag 400 things back to the fridge. Taco bars are our friend! :)

Necessary:
tortillas - (we like soft flour tortillas and Aldi has good ones. You can make your own if you want. I've done that, and I'm not great at it. They're not hard, and the kids loved them, but they were too time consuming for me.... If you really want to make them, you'd need one of these - but I'm not ready to get that, yet.)

The rest are all optional ingredients. If we have it, we use it - if we're out - it gets skipped for that meal.
taco meat (ground beef/turkey with taco seasoning)
*note* when we're feeling poor - or out of beef - we just skip the taco meat. Sometimes I mix the envelope of taco seasoning in with the can of refried beans for that taco-ey flavor, but other times not. Once you get all the rest of the goodies on there, you can barely notice the missing taco meat!!
refried beans
kidney beans
shredded cheese
cheese sauce (salsa con queso at Aldi's - YUM)
lettuce
sour cream
olives (black and/or green)
onions (plain cheap yellow ones chopped up or [$$] green onions, sliced)
green peppers (other colors? whatever)
banana peppers
jalapeño peppers
salsa
and whatever else is in your fridge! :)

chips & salsa on the table

Again - this is one of those great occasions for being creative.
leftover vegetables when sprinkled into the refried beans go great with everything else!
One of Merrick's favorite meals was an accident with tortillas... I'll post that one next.

Here are some other cool things to do with tortillas: