Taco Ring

One that we like - hot or cold - Joshua will take a wedge to school in his lunch the next day! When I had Nathaniel, Jeannie Martinez brought us dinner and this is what they brought.  She told me she got this recipe from Pampered Chef.

 

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. ground beef or turkey

2 tbsp. Southwestern seasoning mix (taco seasoning spices)*

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 tbsp. water

2 pkg. refrigerated crescent rolls

1 md. green bell pepper (optional)

1 cup salsa

3 cups shredded lettuce

1 md. tomato

Sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. In frying pan, cook and stir beef over med/high heat until meat is no longer pink. Remove from heat and drain. In bowl, combine meat and taco seasoning. Add cheese into meat mixture. Add water and mix well. On a baking stone, or pizza pan, arrange crescent triangles in a circle with bases overlapping in center and point to the outside. There should be a circle of about 5" in diameter in center. Scoop meat mixture evenly onto the widest end of each triangle. Bring outside point of triangles down over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center. (Filling will not be completely covered) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cut off top of pepper and discard membranes and seeds. Fill with salsa. Place pepper in center of ring (optional). Arrange lettuce and tomato around pepper. Garnish with sour cream.

Of course, as Brian always says, I can't follow a recipe exactly. I add sliced olives and a can of yellow corn (drained of course, though sometimes I use cream corn, then I don't drain it) to the meat mixture. You could add a (drained) can of black beans as well. Since my kids aren't thrilled with putting salsa on their food, we never do that step. But I like it best with sour cream on top. And in addtion to chopped lettuce and tomato, if avocados are reasonably priced when I make it, those go nicely with it too :)