Mexican Pizza

My food of choice from Taco Bell is either the chicken quesadilla or the mexican pizzas.  When I made the taco bake a while ago it reminded me of the mexican pizza, but wasn't quite it. When I found this recipe on pinterest I had to try it. It was pretty good, but not an exact replica of the Taco Bell version.

1/2 pound ground beef

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 15-oz can refried beans

4 9-inch flour tortillas

1/2 cup salsa

2 cups cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef. Drain off fat. Mix in chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. 

Place tortilla on cookie sheet. Place half of the refried beans and half the meat on a tortilla. Repeat steps to make other pizza.  Place another tortilla on top and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Place half of the salsa on top and cover with cheese. 

Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Slice and serve.  This recipe makes 2 pizza.

Chicken Taco Balls

All of us like tacos, but I don't like anything except for meat and cheese on  mine. Mike puts everything on his. When I make regular tacos he always complains because I never buy lettuce, tomato, or anything else to put on them. When I came across this recipe on pinterest I figured it would satisfy us both because it has taco sauce, which I also never use, and the crescents would make a difference too. 

1 package jumbo crescent rolls

3 oz cream cheese

3/4 cup cheddar shredded cheese

3/4 cup cooked chicken (diced or shredded)

1/3 cup taco sauce

2 teaspoons taco seasoning mix

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cream cheese and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese in a bowl. Stirring until smooth. 

Add taco seasoning, taco sauce and chicken to the cheese mixture. 

Place above mix onto wide end of the crescent rolls. Fold the corners in and roll it up as best as possible. Trying to enclose entire crescent. (I didn't use jumbo crescents so this part was a little messy for me)

Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese on top of each crescent and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

They were very good. I wasn't sure what to expect when I made them but next time I'll make some rice to go along with them too since they weren't very filling. 

Crock pot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

I'm not really a salad eating type of person, but if I do have to get a salad I usually get caesar. When I saw these chicken caesar sandwiches of pinterest, onto the monthly menu they went.

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken

1/2 to 1 cup caesar dressing (I used 1)

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp dried parsley or 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

burger buns

1-2 cups of water (I used 2)

Place chicken and water in crock pot. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours.

Remove chicken and discard water. Shred chicken then return to crock pot. 

Mix in dressing, pepper and parsley. 

Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes on high 

Serve on buns. You can also put some lettuce on it. 

These were pretty good. I think I used to much dressing though as they were really caesary (yes, that's a word) I used 1 cup so next time I think I'll just go with a half cup. And also I used 1/4 cup dried parsley, but the original recipe says only to use that much if you're using fresh chopped.  I really need to pay more attention while cooking, but with two kids running and crawling around sometimes I get distracted. 

Crock pot Honey Chicken

We love Panda Express. Like, we could eat there everyday love it. So, lately I've been looking for recipes to bring that Panda Express food into our home for less money.

This recipe was a huge hit. I ate some and then I had to go somewhere and when I got home the first thing Mike said was "we ate all the chicken"

3/4 pound chicken 

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup ketchup

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

minced garlic

Mix everything except for chicken together in a small bowl. 

Put chicken in crock pot and pour mixture over top. 

Cook on low for 3 hours or high for 1.5 hours. 

Cut chicken into chunks and return for crock pot. Cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles.