Frugal Fiesta!!

I fed 14 people a full meal for about $40! Can you believe that? It is true and no, they weren't all ultra skinny girls who eat a tablespoon of food. This was 10 hungry concrete workers and a few Italian women :-) Here is how I did it. I didn't get any pictures because before I even had all the food out they started digging in.

The menu was following:

Ground Turkey Seasoned with taco seasoning* (6 lbs)
Mexican Rice (12 cups)
Black Beans (8 cups)
Soft and Hard taco shells (18 each)
Shredded Lettuce (1 head of iceberg)
Sour Cream (1 pint)
Cheddar Jack Cheese (2 lbs)
Tomatoes (4)
Onions (1/2)
Chips & three kids of salsa: Basic medium tomato salsa, roasted chipotle salsa, Artichoke and lime salsa

*I always make my own taco seasonings as I try and eat a low sodium diet. I found this recipe from Bill Echols on www.allrecipes.com. It is called Taco Seasoning I. I omit the salt all together and think it is great. It saves 2400 mg. of sodium per this entire meal. I generally use 2 Tbsp. of this for 1 lb. of ground turkey.

Taco Seasoning
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes ( I sometimes use cayenne)
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. sea salt (optional)
1 tsp. black pepper