Spinach Beef Cheddar Taco with Guacamole, Refried Beans and Sour Cream Topped with Fresh Salsa

Fern doesn't generally like mushy, saucy sloppy plates of food so it's got to be really good when I serve him one. This fit the bill. Guacamole started with a fresh very ripe avocado and fresh lime juice. Mash with a fork, add some salt, a tablespoon of sour cream and a few drops of Tabasco Sauce. Whip it with a fork. The acid in the lime juice keeps it from turning black but if you make it ahead, keep it in the fridge with plastic film on it.

Refried beans are Old El Paso brand which taste good on their own. All they need is a little lime juice, a quarter cup of sour cream and a few drops Tabasco Sauce to elevate them. The beans are the most expensive part of this meal but cheaper ones just don't cut it. So until I learn how to make good tasting refried beans from scratch, expensive tins are the only option.

For the taco I diced an onion and caramelized it then added a couple of cloves of garlic diced. Next I added half a red pepper, half a green pepper and a stick of celery diced. (Fern loves celery so that's why it's in there, but it does add a nice flavour) 400gm of ground beef were broken in next and browned. I sprinkled salt, vegetable stock powder and a tablespoon of taco seasoning over the meat while it browned. I would have used beef stock but was out so I used vegetable, once the meat was cooked I added half a cup of water and cooked it off till I had a nice moist filling. I heated the shells in the toaster oven for a few seconds before laying grated cheddar, then filling and rolling them up. I use bulk taco seasoning from the grocery store, it's just as good as the expensive packaged stuff.

The sour cream was just that. Can you elevate sour cream? Probably, somehow.

Salsa was simple:

2 tomatoes diced

1 jalapeno diced

1 slice red onion diced

1 tbsp parsley diced (Fern doesn't like cilantro or I'd use that but a bit less)

juice from half a lime

salt

black pepper

2 tsp olive/canola oil

Toss and serve.

I sprinkled diced parsley over the plate because I had some left over, it does seem to dress the plate a bit. A bit of grated cheddar left over went on the beans. Twice while eating Fern stopped to say how good this was. He didn't used to like tacos at all.