Taco Twosies

We like tacos. In all shapes and sizes.

I make enchilada sauce by the gallon and there is always some sort of meat leftover in the freezer (chicken breast or turkey breast) that can be added to create a burrito, taco salad, or straight up corn tortilla variety.

But I really like ground meat, 1970's hard shell Gringo tacos, too.

I've given up ground beef, relying on ground turkey instead. Ground turkey comes in a 20-oz. package. Too much meat for us to eat in one sitting. But not really enough to make a good portion of leftovers.

So I look for ways to stretch it ... add a little sumpin' sumpin' in there to create a better pile of goodness to put in the freezer. Onions are a given, but here are two other options:

OPTION 1: Black beans or pinto beans. Rinse them and toss them in there. The black variety is prettier,  in my opinion. This mixture is richer and denser than Option 2.

OPTION 2: Mushrooms. Chop them and cook them with the onion first, so they release all of their liquid. Once it's all soft and starting to brown, toss the ground turkey in and finish it off. The mushrooms "lighten up" the meat a little ... you get a sort of silky texture.

Both options decrease you overall meat intake, if that's important to you and area also easy on the wallet.

I use the leftovers to make taco salads the day after, or toss them in with some peppers and cheese for a Mexi-egg scramble. It would also be great mixed with a little enchilada sauce, black olives, brown rice and maybe even a little corn, stuffed in a green pepper for a Mexi version of that classic.