Evolution of the taco

We love "Mexican" food! We could eat it every day! When we first started our family and lived on $20 a month and trips to mom's, we ate a lot of tacos. (Our Americanized version, of course.).  Tortillas were cheap back then and a can of refried beans and maybe some lettuce pulled together a quick newlywed meal quite easily.  We lived quite happily on that for several years, expanding our veggie additions and developing a deep affection for sour cream.  Then we moved across the country, where refried beans and tortillas cost more, and we started soaking and baking our own beans.  Eventually we masted tortillas and every day I rolled dough while one daughter flipped it in the burner, and another cut cucumbers or something.  Then, after my fifth baby, I thought, "Something's got to give!"  And those even those bake-your-own tortillas weren't simple enough.  A friend had just brought me the yummiest chicken and black bean taco meal ever--which my kids still talk about two years later!  There was enough for two meals, of everything but the tortillas. So we put everything on a bed of lettuce and rice.  And it was just as delicious!  Why do some things take me so long to figure out?  So, now we eat beans and rice nearly every day, dinner or lunch, or sometimes both.  But we do it like we would tacos, with all the good stuff.  It isn't as impressive and I can't claim much credit for the meal, but it is easy, satisfying, and takes very little prep time. They are versatile too. We have never paired it with a meat we didn't enjoy. They are easy to convert to a salad, and add all the vegetables you want! And you can please the salad people and the meat eaters at the same meal. Perfect!