Utilizing Leftovers: Spicy Taco Salad

I started law school about two weeks ago, and I am continually surprised by just how much it is like high school. The class is broken down into four sections, so you pretty much have all your classes with the same 50 people. You then see those same 50 people in the hallways. You eat lunch with them. You wax and wane about your professors. Complain about the work. If that isn’t high school enough, you have lockers. And you actually use them.

I forgot how great lockers are. You can bring a bunch of really unnecessary things to school and then just stuff them in your locker. My only qualm is that I got one of the half lockers. My roommate (among others) has a full locker and I am super jealous. She can fit so many more pictures of Orlando Bloom on her locker door.

The biggest high-school-thing about law school, though, are the hours. Since I did speech and theater in high school, I pretty much was there from 9-5, if not later, every day. College was a crazy-laissez-faire time of starting class at ten and ending by three — maybe with the occasional meeting on a weeknight. Law school is pretty much an 8-5 beast, meaning when I get home all I want to do is curl on the couch with Veronica Mars. This has made me really work the versatility of leftovers.

Last week I had a bunch of leftover taco meat from Taco Tuesday, and I used that and the leftover fixings to make some taco salads. Not the most innovative use of the meat, but they were delicious. With some guacamole mixed in, balsamic black bean salsa, and crushed chips it was the perfect quick-and-easy dinner.

Spicy Taco Salad

Ingredients: Taco Meat Ingredients:

1/2 cup taco meat (recipe below) 1 lb ground beef

1/3 cup balsamic black bean salsa 1/2 cup onion, diced

1 tbsp guacamole 1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 cup shredded lettuce 2 tsp cumin, coriander

2 tbsp cheese 3 cloves garlic, minced

handful of chips, crushed salt/pepper

Directions:

For the meat, saute 1/2 cup diced onion in oil until softened. Add the meat and break apart, browning the meat. Add the garlic and spices, and cook until meat is completely browned. Drain before serving.

Combine all ingredients. Eat. Repeat.