Marmie's Taco Salad

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 1 lb lean ground beef, fried and spiced and cooled
• 1 1/4 ounces taco seasoning or 2 tablespoons home made taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 head lettuce, chopped (i like to use a romaine and iceburg mix)
• 3 roma tomatoes, chopped (if not using roma you may want to seed the juicier variety of tomato)
• 1 small red onion, chopped (optional)
• 6 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup sliced black olives (optional)
• 1 (19 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (optional)
• 2 cups old cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 cups approx. tortilla chips, coarsely crumbled
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup heinz ketchup

Recipe

• 1 fry ground beef in medium high skillet until lightly browned - (drain fat and rinse if necessary ).
• 2 add taco seasoning to ground beef, continue cooking until browned nicely.
• 3 add 1/4 cup water and simmer to reduce liquid.
• 4 set beef aside to cool completely.
• 5 meanwhile:.
• 6 place dressing ingredients into a tightly sealed jar -- if not already prepared ahead of time and shake the bejeebies out of it! (about 2 - 3 minutes until smooth) toss in fridge until ready to serve. ( this keeps a very long time too).
• 7 layer into a large bowl -- drained and rinsed beans, diced onions, diced tomatoes, chopped lettuce, grated cheese, cooled ground beef and crushed tortilla chips.
• 8 pour dressing over layers just before serving and toss! serve with more tortilla chips.
• 9 if preparing for a pot luck and it will be a while before serving i package the items separately in zip lock bags so they do not get soggy.