• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sustain My Cooking Habit

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Salads
    • Desserts
  • Gardening
You are here: Home / Homestyle Recipes / Easy Family Dinner Ideas: Taco Salad Recipe and DIY Rope Placemat Decor

Easy Family Dinner Ideas: Taco Salad Recipe and DIY Rope Placemat Decor

June 5, 2016 by Jane and Sonja 2 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin
  • Yummly
  • Mix
“This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CreateYourBowl #CollectiveBias”

Easy taco salad bites in tortilla bowls on a rope placemat

Does you have any family dinner night traditions in your home? One of our favourites is our Taco Tuesdays – it doesn’t just exist in the movies you know! Once a week our family manages to sit together after a long day of school and work to enjoy our favourite Mexican meals such as quesadillas, tacos, fajitas and our quick and easy taco salad. This savoury and crispy salad is filling and most of the ingredients can be easily prepared the night before. We’re happy to share the recipe with you below as well as a quick DIY project to accompany the perfect casual family dinner night tablescape: a wrapped sisal rope placemat.

It’s pretty fun trying new recipes each week and mixing up the side dishes. With my little grocery shopping helpers in tow at Loblaws on the weekend we picked up our supplies including OLD EL PASO Tortilla Bowls which we hadn’t tried before. The soft tortilla bowls come in original and adorable mini sizes which were perfect for the kids.

Easy Taco Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 small cooking onion
  • 1 lb of extra lean ground beef
  • 1 package dry taco seasoning
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup grated marbled or regular cheddar cheese
  • ½ head of iceberg lettuce, shredded
  • 1 or 2 tomatoes, diced
  • ¾ package of taco/corn chips, crushed
  • 1 cup of California or Catalina salad dressing
  • 1 package (12 count) OLD EL PASO Mini Tortilla Bowls

Directions:

  1. On medium heat sautee onions until transparent.
  2. Add ground beef and cook fully. Drain off excess fat.
  3. Return to heat. Add water and taco seasoning mix and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Cool completely in refrigerator. Can even be prepared in advance and left in the fridge overnight.
  5. When ready to serve, toss the prepared meat with the remaining ingredients and stir well.
  6. Spoon into the tortilla bowls and serve.

The OLD EL PASO tortilla bowl is the only soft tortilla that stands up on it’s own and it really is easy to fill. The mini bowls filled with the taco salad would be a perfect finger food for a game night party, potluck or summer picnic. They are easy to handle, eat and clean up. In fact, they’re self-cleaning 😉 !

For a little special touch to complement your Taco Tuesday family dinner night you can make these simple and casual DIY rope placemats and coasters.

To Make Your Own DIY Wrapped Rope Placemats and Coasters:

Materials:

  • ¼” diameter sisal rope such as this rope on Amazon (affiliate link)
  • Hot glue gun and clear craft glue sticks

Instructions:

  1. Preheat glue gun. Protect work surface with a piece of scrap paper.
  2. Apply small dab of glue to end of sisal rope and carefully fold end in. This will be the center of the placemat or coaster.
  3. Apply another small dab of glue and wrap rope around the start of the circle.
  4. Continue working in the round and applying glue in small amounts as you go.
  5. When you’ve reach your desired coaster size, cut rope end and glue end in place. Keep going to make the larger placemat.

We made these coasters and place mat as a part of our Simple Daily DIY 15-creativity challenge. Come unleash your natural creativity with us and join the challenge!

Click to Learn More and Join the #simpledailydiy challenge!

With so much busy-ness in our lives these days it’s nice to make the time to enjoy a family meal together and something we should try to strive for more often. We appreciate that OLD EL PASO is a family brand and makes having Mexican cuisine easy, special and fun for our family.

We’ll definitely be getting the tortilla bowls again. There’s so many possible ways to use them for any savoury or even sweet dish. For dessert after dinner I filled the mini tortilla bowls with some fresh fruit for the kids to enjoy while they watched TV. It made me smile when my 4-year old came up to me in the kitchen and sheepishly asked “Mama, can I eat the fruit cup?”. After I said yes, she gave me a big, almost relieved smile and said “good, cuz it’s yummy”.

I kid you not.

For more great Mexican-inspired family dinner night recipe ideas visit the OLD EL PASO website.

Like it? Pin it for later!

Have you tried the OLD EL PASO Tortilla Bowls? If so, how do you use them (we’d love to try new ideas!)?

Filed Under: Homestyle Recipes, Main Dishes Tagged With: diy, quick diy, recipe, Simple Daily DIY, upcycle, upcycling, upcycling diy

Additional Recipe Ideas you Might Enjoy:

Spring leaf salad with beet leaves and lettuce
A tall glass filled with pink cocktail and garnished with a sliver of fresh peach and blackberry. A blue and white checkered napkin and small bowl of blackberries are in the background.

Follow us on Pinterest for more delicious recipes ideas!

Previous Post: « Snow Capped Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Next Post: 5 Quick and Easy Last Minute Gifts you Can Make with Items from your Kitchen »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cyn

    June 9, 2016 at 6:03 pm

    Love that recipe! It’s very close to how I make my taco salad but you have a couple differences I’m going to try – and so fun to put it in the tortilla bowls. And how great are the rope placemats? Love the simple rustic look they add. #client

    Reply
    • Jane and Sonja

      June 13, 2016 at 7:58 pm

      Thanks, Cyn. They were very tasty!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Hello!

We're Jane & Sonja, sisters who've grown up learning our mom Branka's traditional ways in cooking, gardening and homemaking. We are happy to bring this modern homesteading lifestyle to you!

Recent Posts

  • Kitchen Essentials Gift and Shopping Guide
  • Reindeer Cheese Ball Appetizer Recipe
  • No-Bake Raffaello Coconut Balls Recipe

Like us on Facebook for additional yummy ideas!

Sustain My Cooking Habit - Feeding Your Inner Homecook

Let’s Pin together!

Footer

sustainmycookinghabit

🌱 Homestyle recipes, gardening and modern homesteading ideas from our family to yours
🌟 From the DIY mamas @sustainmycrafthabit
Our latest post

Instagram post 2196205929477088655_11878688191 Rolled with cheddar and bacon and topped with pretzel antlers, these easy reindeer cheese balls are sure to be the talk of the holidays! ⠀
⠀
Enjoy this savory Christmas appetizer with crackers or flat breads. Recipe is on the blog!⠀
#cheeseball #holidayrecipes #christmas #appetizers #sustainmycookinghabit
Instagram post 2194463485278353603_11878688191 These easy, no-bake coconut balls are a family favorite around the holidays. They also make a beautiful treat to bring with you when visiting family and friends.

Recipe is on the blog - the link is in our profile!
#bakingseason #cookiesofinstagram #cookies #christmascookies #sustainmycookinghabit
Instagram post 2192170892024652918_11878688191 Have you started Christmas baking yet? 🎄⠀
⠀
We partnered with 6 of our fellow blogging friends to bring you this collection of 14 of our best Christmas cookie recipes! These simple and delicious classics are perfect for gifting, cookie exchanges and enjoying with friends and family.⠀
⠀
Click the link in our profile to access your copy now!⠀
#christmascookies #baking #cookieexchange #sustainmycookinghabit⠀
⠀
#printable #cookierecipes #cookies #cookiesofinstagram #cookiegram #holidaycookies #christmasbaking #gingerbreadcookies #xmascookies #cookiegram #cookiesofinstagram #chocolatecookies #cookiedecorator #cookieoftheday #holidaybaking #bakingseason #instasweet #desserts
Instagram post 2187103884736371547_11878688191 A joyous and happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! 💕 #grateful

#happythanksgiving #thanksgiving🦃 #livethelittlethings #gratitude #community #withthanks #thankful #thankfulgratefulblessed
Instagram post 2183722552203244481_11878688191 Looking for a hearty make-ahead side dish to feed a crowd? Our non-creamy, old-fashioned potato salad recipe is a family favorite and sure to quickly be yours!⠀
⠀
Get the recipe 👉  https://sustainmycookinghabit.com/easy-potato-salad-recipe/ ⠀
#potatosalad #recipeidea #harvest #sidedish #thanksgivingdinner #growyourown #sustainmycookinghabit #growwhatyoueat #garden #gardens #gardening #vegetablegarden #kitchengarden #instagarden #gardenlife #igrewthis #foodporn #foodography #potatoes
Instagram post 2180668756896057886_11878688191 Who knows what these beauties are?

Our tree was loaded this year! We’ll soon have recipes on the blog for jams and jellies. 
#mysteryfood #yummy #growyourownfood #orchard #gardening #organic #modernhomesteading #sustainmycookinghabit
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Disclosures

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, Sustain My Cooking Habit makes no guarantee as to the procedures & information contained here. The publisher will not be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages in connection with or arising from the use of the information displayed on SustainMyCookingHabit.com. This website is not intended to substitute the advice of a professional.

Copyright © 2019 Sustain My Cooking Habit on the Foodie Pro Theme