Sometimes you want salads to be simple and light, especially when served alongside an entree. But when the salad is the meal, it’s time to pile on the layers and hit as many food groups as possible. That’s the idea behind the hearty, filling, plant-based taco salad I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

I’ve long loved this salad because it has so many delicious ingredients that it doesn’t need the ground beef often found in such a one-bowl meal. Kidney beans and cheese provide plenty of protein, and the crisp tortilla chips and other fresh layers supply contrasting textures. The vegetables become the salad’s stars, and I pile on as many as my garden is producing—roasted garlic, corn, cherry tomatoes, greens, onion tops, and cilantro—with avocado, lime and green olives that I can’t grow in Montana for bonus fun. With so many fresh ingredient options and a homemade salad dressing built around my favorite salsa, I could eat this salad every day and never tire of it.

Learn more about plant-based meals and get the complete recipe for Meatless Taco Salad in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

If the ingredient list for this salad looks overly long, keep in mind that the essentials are the dressing, seasoned beans, greens, and chips. Leave out vegetables you don’t have or don’t like, and pile in extra ones as you please.

To keep the salad vibrant, I emphasize homegrown and homemade ingredients. Here are the recipes on the blog that are staples in my fridge and go into this salad.

• Brined and Seasoned Pot Beans
• Homegrown and home-dried oregano
• Homemade Sour Cream
• Homemade Small-Batch Yogurt
• Grilled Tomato Chipotle Salsa
• Roasted Garlic
• Husk-Grilled Corn
• Cold-Smoked Cheese

I’ve even started playing with a homemade version of Worcestershire sauce and smoking chilies and milder peppers to dry and grind into powder. I’m still developing these recipes, but you can find more taco salad ingredient ideas and more recipes for filling salads in the recipe index.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.