A couple of weeks ago, I had a bad cooking week. I mean really bad—I had to throw dinner out not once, not twice, but three times. This basically never happens to me. Rarely is dinner inedible—if it’s not good, it’s usually just kind of weird. It was a very humbling experience and I took a couple weeks off anything more involved than frying an egg. Nothing new, nothing fancy—just foolproof meals I couldn’t possibly mess up.
I also had a really complex group project I was working on, and I was really stressed. Like not-sleeping-stressed and panic-attack-at-2-am-stressed and don’t-want-to-eat-stressed. I’ve found that when that happens, or when I’m tired physically or creatively, my cooking returns to the staples of my childhood. Maybe it’s because they’re easy, or familiar; it’s hard to mess up something that you’ve made a hundred times. One of the staples I’ve rediscovered is ground beef tacos. I typically try not to eat a lot of beef—save the planet and all that—but sometimes a girl gets low on protein and doesn’t like chickpeas.
That’s half the inspiration for these. The other half comes from a bean dip that I make every holiday. My high school best friend introduced me to it, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. It’s funny how the things we eat when we’re young are so built into us in so many ways, whether it’s just something we return to when we’re tired or if it reminds us of someone we miss.
We’ll start by cooking ground beef in a pan. Then we add refried beans, sour cream, cheese, and hot sauce, and cook it all together until it’s melty and combined. Then you scoop into warmed crunchy taco shells and top with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno, or any other toppings you want.
That’s it. It’s bean dip in a taco shell. They’re hefty, too—I’m usually a 3-4 tacos kind of girl but two of these were enough for me. It’s a good one for if you need dinner fast, or if you’re having a bad cooking week and can’t bear to throw out another inedible meal. Don’t feel bad if that’s you. It happens to everyone, and these will keep you fed until next week rolls around and you can start over again.
crunchy beef and bean dip tacos
time: ~20 minutes
makes 16 tacos
ingredients
oil, olive or vegetable
1 lb ground beef
½ tsp salt
a good grind of pepper
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
15 oz refried beans
½ cup sour cream
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 ½ cup cheddar cheese
16 crunchy taco shells
Optional toppings: shredded lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream, shredded cheese
directions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C. Make beef. Heat a little bit of oil in a pan over medium-high heat (this is just to prevent the meat from sticking) and add ground beef. Use a wooden spoon to break it up while it’s beginning to brown, then add salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Cook until browned all the way through.
- Add refried beans, sour cream, taco seasoning, and cheese. Mix well and cook until cheese is melted and the whole thing is bubbly. Stir in the hot sauce, then take off the heat. Put the taco shells on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for about 5 minutes, until warm.
- Serve in warmed taco shells with your toppings of choice.
Keep any leftover filling and shells separate. The filling will keep for three days in an airtight container in the fridge.
