1 Cup good quality mayonnaise
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

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Noreen's Kitchen

Catalina Taco Salad

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Hi!  I'm Noreen, wife, mother of two amazing, almost grown, daughters, content creator, cook, baker and sister in Christ. Welcome to my Kitchen!   I hope you stick around, enjoy the recipes and share them with those you love!

So today I am sharing this seriously retro recipe, straight from the 70's.  When Catalina dressing was all the rage!  It's sweet, savory, tomato flavor lends itself to this salad that is chock full of delicious veggies cheese and corn chips!  I like this one a lot because of both it's simplicity and versatility.  You can make this with what you have on hand and you can dress it up or down.  This can be made for a crowd or a couple with ease.  I know that you are just going to love the sweet, savory goodness of this unusual taco salad. 

The beauty here is that you start off with whatever your favorite taco meat is!  This is also a great way to make use of leftover taco meat as well as taco toppings from your taco Tuesday feast.  I am using some taco meat I made from leftover home smoked pork shoulder.  But you can use beef, chicken, turkey or whatever you like.  You could even leave the meat out and probably not even miss it!  I seasoned my taco filling with my homemade taco seasoning and a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies. 

Once you have your taco meat made you are halfway there!  Now you build your salad!  I used one large head of romaine lettuce chopped up but you should use what you like.  Iceberg, butter lettuce, spinach or a combo thereof will be lovely.  I added chopped tomatoes, green onion, a drained can of kidney beans, some fresh cut corn on the cob, cheddar cheese and the end of a bag of original frito chips.  You can use taco chips, doritos, or plain tortilla chips or even a good handful of crispy wonton chips if you prefer.  Something crunchy really adds to the end result. 

Get all the ingredients into a large bowl and toss, toss, toss until well combined.  Once you see that the salad is well incorporated, add some of that delicious Catalina dressing over the top.  The amount is up to you.  I used approximately 1/2 cup which was perfect for coating all of the salad ingredients just right.  Toss the salad one more time to get that dressing mingled in with the rest of those ingredients and you are ready to serve.

This salad serves at least 4 generous servings.  It is also a salad that should be eaten and served immediately upon preparation.  So if you are going to be eating at different times you may wish to keep all the ingredients separate so that the salad does not get soggy for latecomers.

Like I mentioned before, this salad lends itself to versatility.  You can add or take away easily here.  Don't like kidney beans?  Add black or pinto beans.  Don't like beans?  Leave them out!  Only have a can of three bean salad?  Toss that in after you drain it this will taste delicious!  Fresh bell peppers, cucumbers, sweet onion, black olives and diced avocado all go great in this salad.  If you have it in your produce drawer you can easily add it to this salad!

This really is a retro recipe that should be revisited.  Something so good that falls off the radar should definitely make a comeback and visit every once and a while!  I hope you give this Catalina taco salad a try sometime soon and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!