Whether it is Taco Tuesday or Cinco de Mayo, we have never turned down a reason to celebrate with this versatile handheld dish.
Deconstructed Tacos
A while back we discovered Walking Tacos at a picnic and have been hooked ever since. Since our picnic options are limited lately, we wanted to reinvent the savory snack for our current at-home situation. These tacos make a great snack to split or as a meal. They will be your new favorite binge-watching companion.
Serves 4
Ingredients
*Use what you have on-hand. This taco dish is extremely versatile. We used ingredients we were easily able to get at our local grocer, but feel free to adapt to what is in your kitchen. You can swap corn for the tomatoes, Greek yogurt for the sour cream, or pepper jack cheese for the Mexican blend cheese.
- 1-16 oz package of ground beef (or ground turkey, or other meat)
- 1 teaspoon Southwest seasoning (or 1 packet of taco seasoning or your seasoning of choice)
- 1-16 oz bag of corn chips (can also use tortilla chips, etc.)
- 1-8 oz bag of shredded Mexican blend cheese (can also use pepper jack or cheddar cheese)
- 2 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 avocado, mashed
Directions
- In a medium saucepan on medium heat, brown ground beef. After draining the beef, add seasoning and mix.
- In 4 separate bowls layer the ingredients, starting with the corn chips, ground meat, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole.
Keep the celebration going with our Fiesta Cheesecake Tacos.
Fiesta Cheesecake Tacos
You can use any rice cereal or other similar cereal to make the taco shells. If you do not have anything on-hand to make the shells, you can also make the cheesecake filling and serve in a mason jar or bowl.
Ingredients
Taco Shells
- 3 cups mini marshmallows
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 cups brightly colored corn cereal
Whipped Cheesecake Filling
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sour cream
Directions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and marshmallows together in 30-second increments until melted. Stir until smooth.
- Add cereal and mix until fully coated.
- Using spatula or spoon coated with butter or non-stick spray, transfer mixture onto parchment paper. Spread mixture evenly until it is ½” thick. Allow to cool slightly.
- With biscuit cutter, or circle cookie cutter gently press cereal mixture and place ‘taco shell’ on a separate piece of parchment paper. Repeat until you have 8 taco shells.
- Bend the taco shells, place them in a taco holder to keep the shape and transfer to the refrigerator to cool. (You can get creative in this step and use what you have. We used a 9”x13” pan to allow our taco shells to set and separated each shell with a ramekin. The ramekins in addition to keeping the shells separated helped to keep their shape.)
- Let taco shells set for one hour in the refrigerator.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat heaving whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, with a hand mixer beat together cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice until fluffy.
- Add in sour cream and mix well.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
- Using two spoons, gently fill taco shells with the cream cheese filling.
- Put filled taco shells back in the freezer to set for at least two hours.
- Before serving sprinkle with cereal or sprinkles.