Taco Salad

(This recipe was originally posted in conjunction with the Meijer Ad Week of 5/27/12 - 6/2/12)

This main dish salad makes a huge batch!  It's tasty, easy, and uses basic ingredients.  Perfect for your potluck picnic!

Ingredients:

Salad:
1 lb hamburger
1 envelope taco seasoning, minus 1 Tbsp
1 medium-sized head of lettuce, torn into small pieces
1/4 C diced onion
3 medium tomatoes, diced
8 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
1 pkg Doritos nacho cheese chips, crushed.
Dressing:
about 3/4 of a 16 oz bottle of Thousand Island dressing
3/4 C sugar
1 Tbsp taco seasoning
2 Tbsp taco sauce or salsa

Directions:
Cook and drain the ground beef.  Mix with the envelope of taco seasoning (but RESERVE 1 Tbsp of spice mix for the dressing) and 3 Tbsp water.  Simmer 4 minutes on low.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Refrigerate until serving.  Meanwhile, prepare the dressing by mixing all ingredients together.  Refrigerate until serving.  Combine the lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese in a large bowl.  Refrigerate until serving.  Just before serving, combine the lettuce mixture, meat, dressing, and crushed chips.  Serve immediately.

Options and Tips

• To save time, use 2 bags of "Just Lettuce" instead of tearing your own. 
• To give this salad a little more kick, use a spicier variety of Doritos.  There are a lot of great flavors available, including Jalapeno to Salsa Verde.
• We are not huge fans of raw onion, so I hardly use any at all.  However, you may adjust this recipe according to your family's taste:  add kidney beans and more onions, use less tomato, etc.
• Leftovers do not keep very well, so make a half recipe if you don't think you'll need a large batch.
• To refresh leftovers, mix with a few handfuls of crisp lettuce.

This recipe, in its original form, can be found on page 387 of Hull PRCS' Bountiful Blessings cookbook.  I made quite a few changes to the measurements and instructions.