By Isaiah is gone. Derek drove him to Charlotte Saturday. Father and son, the way Derek brought him into this family: quietly, together, with steadiness. I stayed home. This was theirs.
Derek called from the parking lot after. His voice was thick. He said, "He's going to be fine." He was telling himself, not me. I said, "I know."
The house is different without Isaiah. Not empty — Zoe, Curtis, Derek — but different. The basketball shoes by the door are gone. The ESPN silence. The full refrigerator that stays full. You don't realize how much space a nineteen-year-old boy takes up until he doesn't.
Isaiah called Monday night. "I made greens, Mom T." His first meal in his own kitchen. Collard greens. The recipe from the Tuesday night in 2021 when he found me crying over Mama's greens and said, "Can you teach me how to make those?" That boy, who wouldn't eat my food for three months, made collard greens on his first night alone. The line extends to Charlotte.
School starts next week. Zoe starts 10th grade — she's designed her own binder covers, hand-drawn, one for each subject. The biology one has a magnolia tree. Made the back-to-school taco bar. Marcus sent salsa from Atlanta (homemade, genuinely good — the boy has a gift for heat). Isaiah texted "miss the tacos." Jasmine sent a voice memo singing "School Days," a song from approximately 1907, and I played it three times.
The taco bar was always Isaiah’s favorite back-to-school send-off, and I wasn’t going to let his being in Charlotte stop us from having it — if anything, we needed it more. Marcus’s salsa arrived in a jar with a piece of tape that said “medium-ish, sorry” in his handwriting, and it was perfect, genuinely spicy and bright in a way that made the whole table feel full even with one fewer person at it. These easy appetizers are exactly what a taco bar night looks like in this house: low-lift, high-love, ready in the time it takes a tenth-grader to finish decorating her binder covers.
Easy Appetizers
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 6–8
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
- 1 packet (1 oz) taco seasoning
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup pico de gallo or fresh salsa (homemade if you’re lucky enough to have it)
- 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup sliced black olives
- 1/2 cup pickled jalapeños
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 avocado, sliced or roughly mashed
- Tortilla chips and/or small flour tortillas, for serving
- Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Cook the meat. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef or turkey, breaking it up as it cooks, about 6–8 minutes. Drain excess fat.
- Season. Add taco seasoning and water to the skillet. Stir to combine and simmer 3–4 minutes until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the meat is well coated.
- Warm the beans. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the black beans with a pinch of salt and a splash of water, about 3 minutes. Or microwave in a covered bowl for 90 seconds.
- Set up the bar. Arrange all toppings — cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, olives, jalapeños, red onion, avocado — in small bowls across the table or counter. Place tortilla chips and tortillas nearby.
- Serve family-style. Set the seasoned meat and beans in the center as the anchor. Let everyone build their own plate. Squeeze lime over everything.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 620mg