Taco Pizza

A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away...in the midwest) I remember Pizza Hut serving taco pizza. It was one of my favorites. Granted, now I can no longer find it at Pizza Hut but I can make it in my own home. I love this pizza because you can put just about anything you would put on a taco, on top of a pizza. What a great combination! I recently came across a recipe that put some corn meal in the pizza dough and I thought I'd try it out. After the first bite, my husband exclaimed, "This tastes like a Chalupa!". And once again the culinary wheels in my head started turning. Anyway, Chalupas are for later, right now it's time for taco pizza.

Posted by Jen

Printable Recipe

The Ingredients:
For the dough:

1 c warm water
1/4 c oil (I like Olive oil)
2 1/2 c flour
3/4 c corn meal
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp (or 1 package) yeast

For the taco toppings:
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 c tomato sauce (not pictured, oops)
1 taco seasoning packet OR 2 tsp taco seasoning (or more to taste)
1 4 oz can diced chilies (optional)
2 c shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey jack, pepper jack, etc)
1 c shredded lettuce
1/2 c (or more) salsa
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c sliced olives
1 chopped avocado (optional)

OR anything else you like on tacos (refried beans would be great, but my family doesn't like them.

The Directions:
Make your pizza dough as you normally would either in a Kitchenaid, by hand, or by machine. (I used a bread machine on the dough cycle).

While the dough is resting/rising, cook your hamburger with the onion, and spices. (and green chilies if desired) Then add the tomato sauce. (I actually didn't have any tomato sauce so I added some red enchilada sauce!). I also used this opportunity to add in some pureed carrots and spinach so I can sneak more veggies into my family. When the dough is ready roll it out thin and place on your pizza pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Poke pizza dough all over with a fork so that it doesn't puff up while baking. (sorry I forgot to take a picture at this point) Bake in oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove and add meat and cheese toppings. (If your family likes refried beans, heat some up and spread it thinly on the bottom of the meat mixture)
When the cheese is melted, remove from oven. Working quickly add the lettuce, salsa, avocados, olives (if you'd like), and sour cream. Serve immediately while still warm. Yum. It looks like a giant taco!

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Enchilacos

One night I was frantically trying to come up with something to eat for dinner. (I really need to make a menu some day). I found that I had all the ingredients for tacos or enchiladas but no meat in the house. What was I to do?! I found chili in the cupboard, Hey, (I thought to myself), there's meat in chili. It's kind of like taco meat. So I gave it a try. As it turned out my family loved it. My 8 year old thought it was better than tacos. We were trying to decide what to call it since it's a combination of tacos and enchiladas. I suggested "Enchilacos" and it made everyone giggle. It sure is fun to create something and have it succeed.

Click here for printable recipe. 

EnchilacosRecipe by Jen of the Recipe Shoebox

The Ingredients:1 package tortillas
1 jar (16-oz.) salsa
1 can chili with meat
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I know there's not cheddar in the picture. I didn't have any)
1 pkg. (8-oz) cream cheese, softened
1 small onion, diced (again, I didn't have an onion on hand so I used a shallot)
2 Tbs. taco seasoning (or 1 package taco seasoning)

The Directions:

Spray a 9x 13 pan with non stick spray and line the bottom with salsa.

Cream together the cream cheese, and taco seasoning. Mix in 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese and the chopped onion. Stir in the chili.

(Sorry, fuzzy picture)

Spoon some of the filling into a tortilla wrap and roll up. Place in pan, seam side down on top of salsa. Spoon salsa over top and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour. Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.

Enjoy!

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Taco Tarts

Today I was thinking of what to make for dinner, and I was standing in front of the refrigerator looking at what I had on hand (because I'm not taking 3 kids to the grocery store for last minute quick dinner ingredients). All of a sudden I saw a Tupperware dish of leftover taco meat and I remembered a recipe I once saw in Halloween pamphlet. Taco tarts were the answer to my dinner dilemma. This is a great way to get your kids involved making dinner. Let them choose the shapes of the taco tarts and cut them out. I would have done that, but while I was making dinner my kids were suspiciously quiet* so I left them alone. When the kids finally emerged from their activity, they were so excited for dinner. My 8 year old ate about 4 or 5 Taco tarts. And in case you were wondering, yes that is the Millennium Falcon**.

Click here for printable recipe. 

The Ingredients:
1/2 lb leftover taco meat (or 1/2 lb cooked hamburger, 1/2 chopped onion, 1 pkg taco seasoning)
2 packages pie crust (or Lara's best pie crust recipe here.)
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg white
1 egg yolk
cookie cutters at least 3 inches

Directions:
Roll out pie dough and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Make sure you do 2 of every shape as you will need a top and a bottom. Brush the edges of the pie dough with egg white.
Place 1 tablespoon (or bigger depending on the size of your cookie cutters) of cooked taco meat in the middle and top with a pinch of cheddar cheese.
Place the tops of the matching shapes onto the taco meat and seal around the edges. Brush with egg yolk. Bake in oven at 375 degrees. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is a golden brown.

*My kids were quiet because apparently they were in their room, with the door closed, throwing Legos at each other.

**In case you wanted to know where I got a Millennium Falcon cookie cutter, click here to go to Williams and Sonoma. They're even on sale with a vintage Star Wars lunch box to store them in.

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Turkey Tacos

Even though we didn't prepare a Thanksgiving feast this year, we still cooked a turkey because we couldn't miss out on our favorite leftover: Turkey Tacos!! By now, your turkeys may already be gone, but just in case anyone is cooking a turkey for Christmas, I thought I'd get this recipe up so you can enjoy the leftovers too!

Click here for printable recipe. 

Turkey Tacos
by Trisha

The Ingredients:


Cooking Oil (vegetable or olive oil is up to you)
Leftover turkey, shredded (a mix, but mostly dark meat for flavor)
3 medium potatoes, diced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
*salt & pepper  (SEE NOTE BELOW)

*cumin  (SEE NOTE BELOW)

*poultry seasoning (SEE NOTE BELOW)
sharp cheddar cheese
taco shells (home fried or store bought)

*NOTE:  If you're not confident adding these spices to taste, you can just use a store-bought taco seasoning packet instead. 

I use my Cuisinart to quickly shred the leftover turkey. Remember that the dark meat is the best for flavor because it has the most fat in it.

Begin by frying the potatoes and onion in oil at medium high heat.

When browned and almost cooked through (about 15 minutes), add seasonings to taste. 

*NOTE FROM LARA:  I like to add 3/4 cup water and a taco seasoning packet at this point.  I found the water made it nice and moist while the potatoes finished cooking. 


Add the turkey to the browned potato and onion mixture and fry the turkey (close up photo gives a visual of how browned I like it) until the potatoes are cooked through.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove taco meat from heat, scoop into taco shells, and top with cheese.

Place a single plate of tacos or a large bar pan of tacos into the oven to melt cheese and brown taco shells. It only takes a few minutes, so keep an eye on it.


Serve it up and enjoy your leftovers!! (can be served as seen or add lettuce and tomato or salsa).

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