Wednesday, February 29, 2012

mexican pizza


  • Made these tonight and loved them! Great flavor. Only thing I did differently was leave the refried beans out...not a fan. Super tasty and WAY better than those Mexican Pizzas from that taco joint we all know.

  • MEXICAN PIZZA
  • photo & recipe via All Recipes

  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 1 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 (16 ounce) can refried beans
  • 4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
  • 1/2 cup salsa
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeno peppers
  • 1/4 cup sour cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat 2 pie plates with non-stick cooking spray.

Place beef, onion and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until beef is evenly browned. Drain off grease. Season the meat with chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper.

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.

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 onto each one.

Return the pizzas to the oven, and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly before slicing each one into 4 pieces.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

pretzel bites

Just the slightest bit obsessed with these little pretzel bites. They make the perfect dessert or a yummy breakfast treat! I have only made the cinnamon / sugar version because we LOVE them. They taste more like a dinner roll than a pretzel to me, so I'm not sure how I would like the cheese version? But give it a whirl if you like!

PRETZEL BITES
photo & recipe via live love pasta


Rhodes Dinner Rolls
Asiago Cheese
Sugar
Cinnamon
Butter
Salt

Take out as many dinner rolls as you need. Each roll will make 2 pretzel bites. Cut each roll in half and roll it into a ball. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (or one sprayed with a non-stick spray) and cover with a damp towel. Allow the rolls to rise for at least 1 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Place 5 or 6 rolls at a time into the boiling water and leave them there until they puff up; about 30 seconds. Transfer back to the baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the rolls. Bake for about 18 minutes.

If you are making asiago or salted pretzel bites sprinkle with cheese or salt about 5 minutes before they are done. If you are making cinnamon sugar pretzel bites dip them in melted butter immediately after removing from the oven. Then roll them in cinnamon sugar. We served our pretzel bites with zesty nacho cheese sauce.