Just had to get your attention to read me!!

For all you foodies out there here is a did you know: Taco salad is a modern variation on the traditional Tex-Mex dishs. These recipes begin to show up in American cookbooks/magazines in the 1960s. In 1964 Dad took the whole family and move to California because of work. There we got introduce to Mexican food or what is now Tex-Mex. Back then in the ‘60’s the Taco Salads was served on a plate over a flat corn tortilla (enchilada(s)) beans with Iceberg lettuces, avocado, sour cream, Cheddar cheese and tomatoes. You could order it single, doubles, or triples.

Before Glen Bell created Taco Bell (1962), he started Bell's Drive-In and Taco Tia in the San Bernardino area (1954) wetted our appetite for "hot and spicy" Mexican food. Did Taco Bell originate the eatable Taco Salad bowl (not till 1984)? I've been unable to proved it did. Or didn't. But one of the first recipe I could find for Taco Salad appeared in the May 1968 issue of Sunset."American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century”. Another search I found in 1943 in Piedras Negras (a small Mexican town) Nachos was served to a dozen ladies on a shopping trip from Eagle Pass, TX., who came to the restaurant after it had closed.  A Simply Dish that Ignacio served it and called it, Nachos Especiales.

Here is a did you know: Iceberg lettuces was first "crisphead", its true name, until the 1920s. First grown and used by the Greeks and Persians since 500 B.C. But not popularized till 1894, Washington Atlee Burpee & Co. seed catalog stated this about iceberg (“Crisphead”): "There is no handsomer or more solid Cabbage Lettuce in cultivation." Because of its short growing season, it became Denver, Colorado popularity to grow and shipped all over the US. Bruce Church founder of Fresh Express, was responsible for popularizing the idea of shipping lettuce across the US continent from Salinas, California to the spots on the East coast. Before the days of refrigerated railways cars, the heads where iced (thus how the name switch to).

Here is the "Taco Salad”:

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili pepper

1 can (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 medium head iceberg lettuce

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 medium sized tomatoes, peeled and cut in wedges

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

11/2 cup corn chips or tortilla chips

Fry meat and onion over medium-high heat; stir until the meat is crumbly and has lost its pinkness and the onion is tender. about 7 minutes. Stir in the salt, chili powder and tomato sauce; keep hot.

Shred the lettuce and arrange on individual salad plates. Top each with the meat mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Arrange on each salad tomato wedges and avocado slices, if used. Place corn chips around edges of salads and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

If you like more hotly seasoned Mexican foods, you might add chopped canned green chilis or liquid hot pepper seasoning to taste; stir into the meat mixture with the tomato sauce."

How to make an Eatable bowl:

Walk-about Taco Salad Bag

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