Simple and Delicious Tacos

What is better than tacos? It’s probably a toss up in our house between tacos and nachos to be honest. We could live on tacos or nachos! Add in a night with a quesadilla and we’d have it made. Who doesn’t love tacos? They are pretty simple to make, they’re good for a crowd, and if you have leftover meat, it’s easy to freeze for later! You could even do a make ahead meal so all you would have to do is warm it up and serve! Today my husband was taken off his dairy free restriction so tacos with LOTS of cheese were in order!

Before I get started, I like to gather everything I will need for cooking the meal. So I grabbed 2 pounds of ground turkey (my preference and I prefer 93/7), 1 bell pepper, 1 onion, minced garlic (I cheat and buy already minced garlic), and taco seasoning of choice (or make your own). Make sure you have your skillet ready to go as well. What we love about these tacos is the chips we use in place of tortillas. So, really, they are kind of like nachos or tacos! I crunch up the chips though and we like to use Doritos Nacho Cheese chips, but you could use any chip that you wanted.

I have all my ingredients. Now I get to chopping my bell pepper and onion. I only use 1 of each because I try to sneak in vegetables where I can with the kiddos. 1 chopped up onion and bell pepper usually go unnoticed. Feel free to use more if you would like or omit if you don’t want them in your tacos. I may make it harder, but to chop my bell pepper I like to first slice it so I can make the slices the width I want and then I chop them. After that I chop my onion. I chop it the way my Mom taught me and I think it works well. My husband bought me one of those food choppers, but I can’t use it to save my life. I end up with a chopped onion mess that isn’t chopped well. I just do it by hand. Pictures included on how I chop my bell pepper and onion.

Once I have those chopped up, I put a little butter in my skillet and let it melt. I prefer to use a cast iron skillet but not everyone likes them. They are also not recommended for use on glass cook tops, but I still use mine on my glass top stove. After the butter has melted, I put the bell pepper and onion in the skillet. I like to have my stove set to medium heat. As the onions start to turn translucent, I add in the minced garlic.

After about 1-2 minutes I add the ground turkey. The onions, bell peppers, and garlic will continue cooking while the turkey is cooking so they don’t have to be perfect. Brown your meat. Make sure there isn’t any pink left in the meat. While the meat is cooking, I take that time to clean up around the kitchen. I do dishes if any are in the sink or sitting around, clean the counters, and sweep. At this point, if you are using a meat with a higher fat content, you may need to drain your meat. With the 93/7 meat there isn’t usually a lot of grease to drain. Now you are ready to add your taco seasoning and water. I usually start with 1/4 cup of water and then add another 1/4 cup as the water starts to evaporate. If you are using a commercially made taco seasoning, follow the directions on the package. Now your meat will need to simmer (timing depends on you and what the directions on you taco seasoning say). I like to let mine simmer for about 15 minutes. This gives me time to get everything out that I will need to complete dinner.

I make my own taco seasoning but I never measure out anything. My kids find the commercially prepared taco seasonings too spicy so I make my own that my kids (and husband) don’t find spicy. I use a mix of chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and onion powder. Like I said, I don’t measure mine out. If you want to look into making your own, I suggest browsing Pinterest.

While my meat is simmering, I grab the chips I will be using and crush them up. I get out my bowls and layer the chips in the bowl. Get out any other toppings you will want to use so you can quickly add those when the meat is done. If you will be doing the tacos for a group, this is a good time to put the toppings in whatever serving containers you will be using. We added shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, taco sauce (or salsa), and sour cream (I sub plain Greek yogurt and no one knows the difference in my family).

Once the meat is done I layer the meat on top of my chips, then add the cheese, lettuce, and sour cream. I try to mix it up a little and then it’s ready to serve. For my boys I don’t add any lettuce and I only put the sour cream on my oldest boys’ tacos. For my bowl I added a touch of taco sauce. Now dig in! YUM! It’s always a hit in my family! We have some family that just puts everything in the Doritos chip bag and then the only dish they have to wash is the silverware! My kiddos are still a little too young to be able to eat from the chip bag, but I can’t wait for when they can!

Since I took care of the dishes each step of the way, I now just have the skillet, spatula, and forks to clean when everyone is done! I used paper bowls because our other bowls have almost all gone missing. If you have any meat left over you can store it in a container in the refrigerator or put it in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer for later use!