Tipi Tacos

At the General Mills headquarters, we got to have some fun with the wonderful and wild marketing team from Old El Paso. They let us preview a fun family mealtime game called El Tacador (it's free and will be available soon to download and print!) and we had a chat about making mealtimes fun and positive for families. Of course I was super-happy to see people as excited about Family Mealtime as I am!!
Soooo....I decided to spice up our family's Taco Night by making Tipi Tacos! Living in the Pacific Northwest, we've been learning a lot about the Native American that lived in this region. This fun dinner was a great way to continue the conversation.


Tipi Tacos
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package Old El Paso taco seasoning
water
Lettuce
Shredded Cheese
Salsa
Pretzel Sticks
Tortillas (any kind)
Celery sticks, cut into thin strips
Cream cheese (optional, for "glue" to hold the sides together)
Ketchup or taco sauce, optional

Directions:
Brown ground beef and add seasoning and water according to package directions. While meat is cooking, cut up tortillas into triangles. You have two options for this:
Option #1: cut one large triangle out of a small tortilla (see below). You'll need three of these to make one Tipi. Be sure to cut out a smaller triangle from every 3rd piece to make a "door"

Option #2: cut a large tortilla in half and then in thirds. Trim the outer edge so they are triangles. This has less waste and one tortilla will make 2 tipis. Be sure to cut out a smaller triangle from every 3rd piece to make a "door".
Either way, chop up the extras to freeze and fry for taco salads another night!


Place trianges on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes until crispy. Remove from oven.

On a plate, place a spoonful of cooked taco meat, cheese, and lettuce.

Arrange 3 triangles to form a tipi. If you are making these yourself and serving them, they should be fine. If you are going to let the kids decorate the sides with ketchup or taco sauce, you should use a little cream cheese on each side to hold it together. Place a few celery sticks in top.

Break several pretzel sticks in half and arrange to make a "firepit" in front of your tipi. Add a spoonful of salsa for the "fire".
Place a small amount of ketchup or taco sauce in a sandwich baggie and snip off one corner. Let the kids paint some "artwork" on the sides of their tipis. Serve and enjoy! Little C insisted that the meat should go on the outside of the Tipi because it looked more like "dirt"....hey, whatever works!! A+ for creativity!