Aunt Agnes’ Mexican Salad – Guest Kitchens
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Today’s post is from Lora Roberts, a Southern Plate Family member that I had the privilege of meeting while I was on my book tour. I actually had the privilege of getting to eat with her, too! I was headed to a signing at a bookstore located in a mall and got there early hoping to grab some supper in the food court. As I stood in line to place my order Lora came up and said hi to me! She had also arrived early for the signing hoping to eat. I asked if she would mind if I sat with them and we spent the next half hour chatting away!
Thank you for your hospitality, Lora, and thank you for sharing this recipe and heartwarming story with us today. I am so intrigued by it that I’m heading out to the grocery store to get the makin’s today! If anyone reading this has ever made it, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. I know you’ll also want to chat with Lora in the comments as well so feel free!
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy,
I had to stop and think of which recipe I wanted to share the most and which had a story really worth telling. My grandmother passed away when I was 17 and my mother when I was 19. Most of my recipes I have acquired over the years have been from other family members. I guess the one with the most meaning is the one I will share!
Aunt Agnes has always brought this recipe to the family reunion and it is always one of the first things gone. Now you have to remember my dad’s family is good old East Tennessee folks, raised on cornbread, beans and other traditional Southern cooking. But everyone loves this! When Aunt Agnes lived too far away to make the reunion (uncle was a preacher and they lived many places over the years), my stepmom would bring it in her place. I fixed it for my boyfriend a couple of summers ago and he loved it. Just a good fresh and cool salad for summertime and something he enjoyed taking in his lunch, light but filling.
Last year after the family reunion, we stopped by Aunt Agnes’ house to visit as she had not been feeling well and she didn’t attend the reunion. While visiting I told her I had fixed Rick the Mexican Salad and how much he loved it so I asked….how did you get this recipe? What she told me made the recipe mean that much more to me.
In the early 80’s after losing my grandmother, mother, favorite uncle and a couple other relatives, I lost my cousin Linda (Aunt Agnes’ only girl). When I was a small girl they called me “Little Linda” as I was so much like her and tended to talk through my nose like her! Linda first got sick with a tumor on her spine. Eventually other cancers took her from us. Aunt Agnes and Uncle Charles lived in Texas at the time and Aunt Agnes came back to Atlanta to stay with Linda. When Linda was really bad and in the hospital for a long time, one of the nurses came in one day with a bowl of the Mexican Salad for Aunt Agnes and the other family members to eat since she felt they had to be tired of the hospital cafeteria by then. Everyone loved it and Aunt Agnes asked her for the recipe. So through the loss of a much beloved family member, we received a much beloved family recipe. One I will continue to fix and share in honor of Linda and Aunt Agnes.
~Lora Roberts
Servings: 4
Calories: 141kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 c. shredded cheese
- 1 can pinto beans
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 bottle Catalina dressing
- 1 or 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 head of lettuce chopped (or 1 bag salad mix)
- 1 bag Doritos Nacho cheese flavor, crumbled
Instructions
- Brown ground beef, stirring constantly. Drain and cool. Mix ground beef with cheese, pintos, onion and dressing. Refrigerate. Before serving, add tomatoes, lettuce and Doritos.
Nutrition
Calories: 141kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!
Servings: 4
Calories: 141kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 c. shredded cheese
- 1 can pinto beans
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 bottle Catalina dressing
- 1 or 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 head of lettuce chopped (or 1 bag salad mix)
- 1 bag Doritos Nacho cheese flavor, crumbled
Instructions
- Brown ground beef, stirring constantly. Drain and cool. Mix ground beef with cheese, pintos, onion and dressing. Refrigerate. Before serving, add tomatoes, lettuce and Doritos.
Nutrition
Calories: 141kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem.
We all have twenty-four hour days.”
— Zig Ziglar
I have always made my taco salad with Catalina Dressing and, surprising as it sounds, it is fantastic! I wouldn’t make it any other way!!
Love this salad – we make it exactly as the recipe states but usually have small bowls of extra ingredients to add on or in – Extra diced tomato, more shredded cheese, sliced black olives, drained rinsed red kidney beans, sliced green olives, sour cream, salsa, chopped green onion (our family l-o-v-e-s onions and extra chips – more fun to eat it with chips than a fork
Thanks for the lovely story. So nice to know how many other folks enjoy the simple things in life that sometimes we take for granted. I enjoy this with a meal but many of my friends serve this as “movie watching food”
Looks like Aunt Agnes is feeding Uncle Charles a lemon type layer cake or a coconut cake – either way – lucky fellow!!!
Now that the weather here is so nice we can enjoy it for a iight lunch on the deck or patio.
Have a great day
We put taco seasoning in the beef also. My husband had this at a party at his work, but the lady who brought it didn’t use Catalina dressing like normal. She used a mixture of equal portions of taco sauce and thousand island dressing. It’s wonderful! You should try this option, too.
Lora,
Thank you for sharing this story and recipe. I think I may whip this up while at the beach! I always tell myself, something good comes out of something bad. Thank you for sharing!
I have never made this, but I have eaten it, and it is delicious!
That’s just such a lovely, touching story. I have always loved Mexican salads, but I don’t think I’ve ever tried them with Catalina dressing. That is something I will definitely try.
There’s a variation on this that I discovered when I moved to Iowa, and I see them everywhere: they’re called “Walking Tacos.” Basically it’s an individual-size package of nacho-flavored Doritos that gets lightly crushed in the bag, and then you can scoop the meat and cheese and other toppings over the top. It’s great because you can just carry the bag with you and eat out of it with a fork. Maybe they had them in Alabama when I was growing up and I just never noticed, but they’re really popular here. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, Lora! 🙂
Another version of your Walking Tacos — from Texas — is a small bag of fritos, slit open and topped with chili and whatever else is available, usually cheese. Great for kids parties!
thank you for such a touching remembrance! omyGOSH !! regularly made this back in the 80’s — haven’t even thought of it for SO long…will be making it soon. thanks again for your loving story.