The Friday night tradition at our house growing up was Haystacks! It was our version of a build it yourself Mexican inspired meal that was one of our favorites. How many meals are the kids going to love as much as the adults? Not many! But this one we all looked forward to.

You put all the ingredients out individually and everyone uses whatever toppings they want.

Don't forget to put something in each dish to make it easy to serve without fingers in the food. This is a group activity!

I’ll go through each step of how I do mine. Start with Fritos on the plate

Add Pinto Beans in Chili Sauce, (they come this way in cans, you don’t have to add it).

Add chopped lettuce, (I don’t use as much as I should!)

Add grated cheese, (I use more than I should!)

Add diced fresh tomatoes

Diced onion

Diced Bell Pepper

Black and/or green olives sliced

A thicker sauce using tomato sauce and tomato paste for thickness and a packet of taco seasoning

Chopped jalapeños if you want some zip, which I definitely do!

Then sour cream on top.

There you have what I think is the perfect Haystack, but the beauty of it is everyone gets to make their own version, and it’s a lot of fun.

One thing I will warn you about; those things grow! You start out thinking you’re going to be reasonable and by the time you build it, it’s the Taj Mahal of dinners! So think about using a plate with a wider edge and a smaller center to help keep it in check.

Next time you have people over give it a try, and let me know how it goes. It’s a little party and a lot of food! 🙂