Homemade Taco Salad - with shells to match!

I'm stretching the connotation of crafting in this post to apply to cooking. In a sense cooking is a craft. It takes experience to master it (and i still have a long way to go!)

Cooking and I have never been good friends. About a year and a half ago, I could barely muster up a recipe. Baked barbecue chicken was my specialty - which consisted on turning on the overn to 350 degrees, smothering chicken in barbecue sauce, and waiting for it to bake all the way through in the oven. IT was tasty - but not very extravagant...and most likely not too healthy either!

Well, today, I realized I've grown in my cooking skills since then. I made taco salad ( much healthier option!) with homemade tortilla shells. Ok, ok, when I saw homemade tortilla shells I mean that I did buy the shells from Meijer, BUT I molded them to be nice and wavy and baked them in the oven.

THAT does take a little maneuvering. My co-worked told me a hint on how to make the shells nice and crisp and turn out wavy.

1. She said to place an empty can on a cooking tray. 
2. Put the tortilla upside-down on the can. 
3. Spray cooking spray on a piece of aluminum foil and put it over the tortilla. 
4. Then, scrunch the aluminum foil in several spots - this gives the shell that "wavy" look. 
5. When all that is done, place it in the oven for 6 minutes at 350 degrees (I actually had to bake it for more like 12 minutes to get it nice and crispy).

After these are nice and crispy, you can add whatever you wish inside to make a delicious taco salad. I chose to add romaine lettuce,  tomato, onion, black beans, and beef. So yummy!