Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Recipe: Mexican Pizza

Found this recipe on Pinterest, duh, courtesy of All Recipes, which is one of my favorite iPhone apps. It's free, download it now. Their dinner spinner is really fun! Anyway, fell in love, because I have a weakness for Taco Bell (I know it's gross, you don't have to tell me) and immediately made it for dinner. Good grief. It's GOOD y'all.

Ingredients


  • 1/3 pound ground turkey
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 can (16 ounce) fat-free refried beans
  • 4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
  • 1/2 cup salsa
  • 2 cups Mexican-blend shredded cheese
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeno peppers
  • 1/4 cup fat free sour cream (optional) ... yeah right.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Coat 2 pie plates with non-stick cooking spray - round cake pans will work if you only have one pie pan!
2, Place ground turkey, onion and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until beef is evenly browned. Season the meat with chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper.
3. Lay one tortilla in each pie plate, and cover with a layer of refried beans. Spread half of the seasoned ground beef over each one, and then cover with a second tortilla. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. 
4. Remove the plates from the oven, and let cool slightly. Spread half of the salsa over each top tortilla. Cover each pizza with half of the Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. Place half of the tomatoes, half of the green onions, and half of the jalapeno slices onto each one.
5. Return the pizzas to the oven, and bake for 10 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly.

6. Slice each one into 4 pieces with a pizza cutter. Top with dollop of sour cream.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Recipe: Jalapeno Poppers

Y'all? I have been so. freakin. lazy in November. It's pathetic. Easy dinners, no crafting, no weddings so no gifts to make ... I mean, man oh man. I wouldn't be surprised if you all stopped following me by now.

What's that? There's still a few of you out there? Oh thank gooooooodnesssssssss!

Well, as a gift for your patience, here is a fun new happy-tizer recipe: jalapeno poppers. Yes, from scratch (well, scratch-ish. They're not frozen at least!). Yes, another pinterest find, from a blog called "From the Aisle to Aloha" (an east coast girl transplanted to Hawaii because of her husband's job ... sounds like a rough life, right?). I made them for our McKinney potluck today and, since they were long gone by the time I got through the line, I'd say they were a hit!

Ingredients

  • (2) cans crescent rolls
  • (1) 8 oz package neufchatel cheese
  • (4) fresh jalapenos
  • (1) package bacon*

*bacon is optional. but who doesn't love bacon?


Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Lay out the crescent rolls  and cut each one in half (should have 32 16 pieces once they're cut)
  3. Slice in half, then de-seed the jalapenos. Then cut them into bite size pieces (should be about 5 slices in a half of a pepper, so 40 slices total)
  4. Cut bacon into bite size pieces and fry (cut slightly larger than you think you might need, because the bacon will shrink up a lot)
  5. Place dollop of cream cheese (neufchatel cheese), jalapeno slice and bacon piece on the larger end of a crescent half (see photo)
  6. Roll the rest of the crescent together, gathering the sides to prevent anything from seeping out while cooking
  7. Repeat with all 31 of the remaining crescent halves
  8. Place the rolled up crescent pockets on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes

Step 5
Hooray! Healthy alternative to a bar-food favorite. And "not too spicy" according to the hus.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Haven't Posted in Awhile

We've had stuff going on every night this week (at least it feels that way) so I have no updates for recipes or crafts for y'all. Sad, I know. However, I plan to remedy that this weekend.

Ben's headed to the NC State / Carolina game tomorrow and the Steelers / Ravens game on Sunday (yes, that's in Pittsburgh) so MY weekend will be filled with cleaning, laundry, shopping, cooking and crafting. Here's hoping, anyway.

I'm really trying to motivate myself to get a few pins done that have been hanging out on my boards for too long. Here are a few of my favorites that are on the to-do list:




What are your weekend plans, bloggies? Any fun craft or recipe suggestions for me?