Taco Bowls, well technically

    I'm not generally a big taco fan.  I find them just too spicy and just too messy (I really hate messy foods).  The problem is that my family loves tacos (it's obvious that they don't do the laundry around here), and so I make tacos.  Most of the time I use a kit.  It's pretty easy, everything is in there.  When I make the kit, I can adjust the taco seasoning to suit my sensitive spice tolerance.  

    Recently I tried a new experiment.  I made taco bowls.  In my head these were things of beauty, not unlike something that you would see in Foodnetwork Magazine.  The lettuce and cheese were placed in a delicious, yet artistically pleasing way.  The reality as it is 99.8% of the time was something just a little different.  The reality was they looked like something Elly made in her junior kindergarten class.  The did not look visually striking, but I have to tell you, they were delicious.  Turns out I like Tacos when they are not too spicy and not too messy!

    I used whole wheat wraps, the smaller sized ones.  I put some olive oil in a jar and mixed in some garlic puree.  I then brushed this mixture onto both sides of the wrap.  I used the beat up old cutting sheet more to contain the oil than to protect my poor beat up table.  After the wraps had both sides coated in a thin layer of garlic oil, I shoved them into little glass bowls (you will notice that I did not say "placed", but instead chose the word "shoved".  The reason for this is that I tried to "place" them into the bowls, arranging them so that they would create a visually appealing bowl.  This did not work so I lost my temper and "shoved" the wraps into bowls).  These glass Pampered Chief bowls are really great.  My sister sold Pampered Chief for a while and talked me into having a party.  Long story short, I bought some of these great little heat resistant bowls.  I'm sure that you could use a muffin tin.  I used the bowls because they were bigger than a muffin tin and would allow for more filling.  I put my little glass bowls onto a cookie sheet and put them in a pre-heated 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until they were a little crispy.

   After the shells had cooled a little I loaded them with a layer of guacamole, cooked lean ground hamburger with taco seasoning, a layer of sour cream, cheese and diced green peppers and lettuce (that was what I made for me.  The rest of them spiced their's up with salsa and the likes).  They did not look great, but they tasted delicious!  The shells had the perfect crunch, without the extra crunch that the store bought taco shells have (you know that ones that you take one bit and the whole taco crumbles into dust in your hand).  I was able to eat them like a tart.  It was a win win.

    The next time that you or your family wants tacos and you have a few minutes to shape the shells, I highly recommend trying this.

    

Not Foodnetwork worthy looking, but really good to eat.