When I was a kid, my mom didn’t make tacos often. On the rare occasion that she did, we’d have hard shell tacos, with ground meat and a packaged seasoning (you know the one). My mom served it with shredded cheese, lettuce and tomato and called it a day. For the record, I never ate any of the tomato, but I’m pretty sure that I dug taco night. My mom is a fabulous cook, and I learned to be an adventurous eater thanks to her, but tacos were never really her thing. They’re something I learned to really appreciate after I left home.

Fast forward… today I serve tacos to my crew fairly regularly. We usually have soft shell tacos (typically with corn tortillas, but sometimes with flour tortillas), and I serve them with turkey, chicken, pork, black beans, chickpeas, you name it! My kids love tacos any way I serve them, and they especially love DIY Taco Night, when they can fashion their own creations with a variety of fixings.

The folks at Siete Foods (whose chips we’re practically obsessed with) sent me a care package that included their new hard shell tacos and a variety of hot sauces (love love love), and the crunch factor added a whole new dimension of fun to Taco Night! I made Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos, with scrambled eggs, sautéed spinach and a variety of fixings and the combo was a huge win! In a nutshell, it was like eating a spinach omelet with sweet potato hash browns and crispy chips with guacamole, hot sauce and salsa. All good there! It was hilarious watching my kids tilt their necks to make sure they got every last crispy bit into their mouths.

This one will be on repeat at my house, for sure! See below for the recipe.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients:
2 medium/large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks (skin on)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
8 eggs, lightly scrambled
10 ounces spinach

Suggested fixings:
salsa
guacamole
sour cream
shredded cheese
lettuce
tomatoes

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large frying pan and add the sweet potato. Sauté on medium heat and toss to make sure the olive oil is evenly distributed. Add the seasonings and combine using a wooden spoon. Let that cook for 10-15 minutes until cooked through with slightly browned edges. Place in a bowl and set aside. In the same pan, add another tablespoon of olive oil and lightly scramble the eggs. We prefer them soft, but cook them to your liking. Place them in a bowl when done. In the very same pan (one pan to clean up: victory❣️) quickly sauté the spinach with the final tablespoon of olive oil. Tip: you can add fresh garlic to this if you’d like. While that cooks, heat the taco shells open side down in the oven for 2 minutes. Boom! Dinner is done. ❤️

The only argument we had about this one was whether the sweet potato hash browns should go on the bottom or whether the egg should go on the bottom. What’s your vote? 🤔

This meal is gluten free, dairy free, nut free and vegetarian.

I grew up with family dinners pretty much every night. I’m not sure how old I was when it started, but the memory is a strong and happy one. Some days I feel awful that I can’t figure out how to make this happen with my own family. My kids eat dinner at 5:30, and most nights, my husband isn’t home that early. Perhaps family dinner will come at some point for us, but it’ll have to be when the kids go to bed later, and I don’t see that happening for a while.

There are days I feel terrible about this. I’ve read article after article about the benefits of daily family dinners. Somehow though, we can only make it work on weekends. And even then, sometimes it’s only on Sundays. I guess it’s better than nothing. Most nights, I serve my kids dinner and sit with them while they eat. Sometimes I eat dinner with them, and sometimes I wait until later.

What I’ve noticed over the years is that regardless of the number of parents at the table, a fun, interactive dinner vibe makes the rest of the evening flow more smoothly. Most nights, we play a game called ‘Petals and Thorns’ where we go around the table and talk about the best part of our day (the petal) and the worst part of our day (the thorn) to get the conversation going. Beyond that, food that gets the kids talking makes the evening more fun. Enter: DIY meals.

Here are some of our favorites lately:

DIY Sweet Potato Bar

Sweet potatoes are fabulous all year ‘round, and this dinner hits all the high notes with me and my crew. You can make it hearty with bacon and cheese; it’s a great way to add veggies with broccoli, peppers, onions or radishes; it can be sweetened with cinnamon; it can be spicy and sharp with salsa and scallions.

Here we’ve got bell peppers, scallions, caramelized onions, salsa, cheese, radishes, sour cream, avocado, broccoli, cinnamon, bacon and pea shoots. Something for everyone! You can also add black beans, leftover chicken… the sky’s the limit!

DIY Tacos

Raise your hand if your family loves tacos! My family loves them, but they each have different opinions about what should be included. Having the ability to customize makes everyone happy. And here’s my favorite part about this meal: leftovers are absolutely divine. Here we’ve got grilled chicken, guacamole, red onion, avocado, cilantro, lettuce, radish, beans, tomato and cheese. There’s salad and brussels sprouts on the side, but this dinner has no rules… those are welcome to go in too!

DIY Toast Bar

Breakfast for dinner is always a hit here, and lately we’ve been all about banana toast. Offer some various breads, nut butters, jams and fresh or dried fruit and you’ve got something magical. The best part here is that you can go sweet or savory. Add smashed chick peas or hummus, leftover chicken, avocado, and it’s a whole new angle!

My favorite thing about DIY Toast is that you’ve got options to keep it simple or make it more complex. Either way, make sure to start with some really amazing bread!

DIY Wafflewiches

If you’re into the DIY Toast idea, you are definitely going to love my DIY Waffle Bar. It starts with homemade savory waffles (recipe here) and grows from there. This can be wonderful for any meal, not just breakfast.

Bonus points for serving a rainbow of colors. :)

Our family favorites include cheese, bacon, jam and avocado. Here we also have berries, cream cheese, radish and tomato.

Do you have DIY meal favorites? I’d love to hear about it! Shoot me an email or let me know on Instagram or Facebook. If you make one of these meals and post it, be sure to tag @lalalunchbox #lalalunchbox!