Healthier Taco Salad

Total time: 30 minutes
     I like to add rice or quinoa to salads to round out the meal.  You can leave it out and have some crusty country bread, if you prefer.  Add more chile powder, more chilies or jalapeños, Tabasco, whatever, to make it as hot as you like. 

 Ingredients:

• 8oz ground beef (mince), 225gr, 8oz
• 1/3 cup quick cooking brown rice, 60gr, 2.1oz
• 1/3 cup chicken stock, 75gr, 2.6oz
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 small onion, 110gr, 3.9oz
• 1/2 green pepper, 80gr, 2.8oz
• 2 cloves garlic, 8gr, .28oz
• 1 small can chopped green chilies, 127gr, 4.5oz
• 1 tbs olive oil, 13.5gr, .48oz
• 1 tsp chili powder, 2.5gr, .09oz
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, 90gr, 3.2oz
• 1 avocado, 170gr, 6oz
• 2 jars taco sauce, 450gr, 15.9oz
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese - your choice,  60gr, 2.1oz
• Lettuce - enough for 2 main meal salads,  200gr, 7oz

 Instructions:

• Cook brown rice according to package directions, in chicken stock and water.
• Chop onions and green pepper.
• Mince garlic.
• Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chili powder and sauté briefly (30 seconds).
• Add onion and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes.
• Add garlic, beef and chilies and continue cooking until meat is done.
• Add taco sauce - you want the meat mixture to be thick so don't add all of the sauce if it's not needed - serve the rest on the side.
• Take meat mixture off heat.
• When rice is done remove from heat.
• Slice tomato and avocado (see techniques).
• Tear the lettuce and arrange on plates.
• Divide rice and put on lettuce.
• Divide meat mixture and put on rice.
• Top with shredded cheese.
• Artfully arrange tomato and avocado slices around salad and serve with any remaining salsa. 

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Nutrition Information               Recipe serves 2            Entire Recipe / per serving Calories:  1758 / 879 Total Carbohydrates:  155 / 77.5           Dietary Fiber: 22 / 11 Total Fat:  97 / 48.5          Saturated Fat: 32 / 16 Cholesterol:  218 / 109 Protein:  72 / 36 Calcium:  638 / 319 Sodium:   4822 / 2410

General Technical Details and Disclaimer:

Note:  There are a lot of carbs and sodium in commercial Taco Sauce:  56 carbs and 3658mg sodium

Measurements are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.

I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it.  I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.

My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale
and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/