Taco Salad, created by Olivia Leavitt ’19, is healthy and light meal that can be assembled in both Usdan and Sherman dining halls—a unique feature of the dish. Leavitt, a member of the varsity tennis team, usually assembles the salad before practice, as it is a good source of protein, but not heavy.

Ingredients

Lettuce
Corn
Cheese
Protein (tofu, beef or chicken)
Tomatoes
Salsa
Black Beans

Recipe

Fill a bowl with lettuce (preferably iceberg or romaine). Crunch two handfuls of tortilla chips into small pieces and mix them in with the lettuce. Add corn, diced tomatoes, black beans and mild salsa to the salad. Next, sprinkle cheese on top. To finish the salad, mix in protein, whether that be tofu, beef or chicken. “Usdan doesn’t have grilled chicken all the time, so you have to be more creative there,” Leavitt said. When given the choice, Leavitt prefers to use grilled chicken as her protein. To mix the salad, Leavitt usually uses utensils, but it can also be mixed by using a second bowl to cover the bowl with salad and shake the contained ingredients. Once the salad is mixed, it is ready to be eaten.