Some people come home from a long, tiring day of work and all they want to do is relax and unwind with an ice cold beer or glass of their favorite wine. Me? Hand over a Diet Mt. Dew and I am good to GO!
Yes, it’s true. I do love a good diet dew. Do you drink pop? Furthermore, do you call it Pop or Soda?
After quenching my thirst and slightly recovering from one of the busiest days ever, I set off to make an easy, healthy and flavorful dinner. Taco Salads! First I gathered all my ingredients:
We’ve got:
- Mixed greens
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Black beans
- Chili powder, oregano, cumin & cayenne pepper
- Carrot chips
- Salsa
- Green Tabasco sauce
I placed a bed of mixed greens & baby spinach in a bowl.
Then I added some carrot chips that are oh-so-fun to eat!
Next I added a couple spoonfuls of black beans that I had rinsed, drained and microwaved with a splash of water, chili powder, oregano, cumin & cayenne pepper.
I added a generous topping of freshly chopped tomatoes – my faaaave…
Then topped everything off with some salsa and several good shakes of green Tabasco sauce. Dinner’s ready! 5 minutes! Maybe?
For some reason I can’t handle regular Tabasco sauce – but the green kind is fair game for my precious tastebuds. It’s made from jalapeno peppers instead of fully aged red peppers and has a unique hot that is much more flavorful than hot, in my opinion!
These are the same beans that I make for my Homemade Chipotle Burrito Bowl – so easy, and spot on delish 
This meal is super convenient, flavorful, inexpensive and so healthy. That’s why I love taco salads – you can make them vegetarian, load on the veggies & spices and never feel deprived. Plus, since you’re not really cooking anything – cleanup’s a cinch – yes!
Viva Taco Salads!
On the agenda tonight:
- Clean this pigsty that is masquerading as my home
- Do some laundry
- Fold laundry from last week (No I still haven’t reformed my ways!)
- Catch up on emails
If you’ve emailed me in the past couple of days – don’t worry, I’m getting down through my inbox slowly but surely – I appreciate your patience! 
Have a great night everybody – can you believe tomorrow’s already Thursday?! Eep!
~~~~~
Do you like spicy food?
I have a zero spice policy except when it comes to green Tabasco sauce…isn’t that strange?
Looking forward to breakfast tomorrow even though I have an uber-busy morning ahead! Pumpkin pie oatmeal in the oven!! Yay…thanks for the inspiration!
I thought of you tonight while I was listening to my daughter crunch and slurp on a Honeycrisp!
I drink SODA occasionally.
And I know it’s bad, but regular, not diet. I can’t stand the taste of artificial sweeteners. Not a fan of super spicy foods, though. A little spice is ok, but not so much that it masks the flavor. I once ate Thai food, and everything tasted exactly the same – HOT!
Happy laundry folding tonight. I’ll be doing the same thing later!
I call it Soda. Pop sounds like music to me.
I have to admit, since going all-natural one of the few things I miss is a good Diet Mt. Dew or Coke Zero. Zevia’s ok but it’s not quite the same
I LIVE for spicy food
I am obsessed with hot sauce – I even use the Habanero Tabasco, which is outrageously hot!
I’m a Diet Coke addict; it’s pretty bad. And here in GA, we call it all Coke. Not soda, not pop…just Coke.
I love spicy food. The hotter the better in my book!
I do drink pop
. If that is my worst habit, I’ll take it.
I call it soda. I agree with Evan… Pop sounds like music
Aww seeing all your HyVee food makes me homesick…ever since I moved out to central PA I have missed that store! (weird I know; never would have thought!! haha)
I love Diet Sundrop (it’s a southern soda). I take it with me on trips.
I don’t drink pop very much. Yes, it’s pop, soda means unflavored soda water to me. Maybe it’s a west coast thing? I hate diet pop and drink water and iced tea 95% of the time, with an occasional regular pepsi or dr. pepper for a treat (usually when I’m out and they don’t have real brewed unsweetened iced tea!).
I like hot as long as it’s flavorful. I love adding a few shakes of red pepper flakes to casseroles, eggs, pastas…
I’m so bummed, I couldn’t find carrot chips or canned pumpking today at the grocery store! I’m sure the pumpkin was there somewhere, but I didn’t have time to track down an employee.
That looks awesome!
It’s soda. And diet coke please!
I like diet soda (not pop!). I’ve cut down A LOT though. I have maybe one a week, instead of 4 a day!
I love spicy food. I pour Frank’s Hot Sauce on everything.
I love spicy!! Hot sause and salsa are my faves. Salsa is a staple in my diet. I don’t drink soda anymore, but mountain dew was my beverage of choice in high school. I switched to diet dew later in life now I’m off soda entirely. I haven’t had diet soda in four months and regular soda in like, ten years.
Down here in the south, we call everything Coke. The convo goes like this:
Would you like a coke?
Sure!
What kind? Mtn. dew, sprite, coke, etc
Not sure how this came about but that’s how it is down here!
I love soda! I have diet coke everyday I know it’s bad but it’s worse to eat 100% perfect so I don’t think it’s a problem
I’m mexican and of course I love spicy food! I put “chile” on everything! chili powder on apples and mangos, shrimp chiles rellenos, salsas, and a lot more!
Just made your pumpkin pie oatmeal for dinner. Oh my, such a winner! Yeah like many of the others, I call it Coke too, no matter what drink it is. My favorite is Cheerwine, but I only have it every so often.
I love really spicy food and can eat jalepenos just plain! I also love Diet mt.dew as well and it’s called pop for sure!
Thats a really great, quick taco salad you made!
i love this throw together taco salad! you make it seem so easy and i’m totally going to have to make it like asap! i need a change in my everyday salad!
I go through phases with spicy food. I love red pepper flakes because it adds spice, but no sodium. I love this dinner as an easy dinner for nights when you don’t want to cook. Thanks for the idea!
Hehe I love buying carrots chips for the same reason–so cute!
I LOVE spicy food. Whenever my dad makes his gazpacho I end up eating the whole batch because I’m the only family member who likes all the heat!
I love me some diet mountain dew too! I try not to drink too much POP yes, POP! That’s what we call it in Iowa, right?! Buuuut, when I do it’s a Dew! Diet Dew anyway.
When I lived in South Carolina I got made fun of mercilessly for calling it pop but I don’t care, it was funny!
this week is going by fast! i drink soda from time to time. favorites are ginger ale and cream soda :]
Good Morning everyone!
First off, I call it Soda. Forgive me, I was born and raised in New England (Go Patriots!) I also LOOOVEEE spicy food. The spicier the better. Bonus: Its great for your metabolism (or so I hear). And lastly, as a SUPER bonus, ’cause I know you’d all love this: A hilarious recap of this weeks GG episode (ps. I’m Blair-obessed):
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/10/gossip_girl_finally_gets_out_o.html
Enjoy & have a lovely day!
-M
I don’t drink soda, but I never have. I really just don’t like it all that much!
Your taco salad looks delish! I lovvve me some spicy foods.
Here is iowa we call it POP!!!! Love the taco salad idea- so quick!!! love the idea of layering all those ingredients!
aww- I miss people who call it Pop! When I first moved to Texas, FIRST day of 8th grade, I asked some random girl in the cafeteria where I could get some pop/ how much was it? and she said, “well… it’s 75 cents but they’re not making popcorn today”
I remember gesturing, “No… like the drink! POP? sodapop?!”
haha good times….
anyway-I think a d. soda every now and then isn’t bad… better than drinking the regular full-sugared sodas!
I love the green tabasco as well, much more than the red!!!
Great looking salad today!!! Gives me my idea for dinner tonight:)
soda versus pop….people get so defensive about their preference;) Growing up in Chicago, I called it POP, NEVER would have thought to call it soda. When I went to college in Wisconsin, everyone called it Soda and I refused to change! But after 4 years and moving back to Wisconsin (where they do everything backwards), I have made the switch to “soda”:) Now it sounds so weird to hear people call it pop! hehe.
I’ve always called it pop. I think that’s a midwest thing. I’ve never liked the carbonation much, so I only drink pop maybe once a month and always diet. If I’m gonna consume that much sugar I’d rather eat a chewy cookie or ice cream.
For me it is soda. I grew up down south for a bit though and remember calling it coke as a kid. It was all coke…even pepsi was coke
I love spice. Too much is just too much but I like things with a good kick
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