Taco Puffs

Link to recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Taco-Puffs

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 2 tubes (16.3 ounces each) large refrigerated flaky biscuits
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

These were a HUGE success! Made 8 puffs, but had left over meat that could have filled maybe 2 or 3 more. Only change I would make is adding more cheese inside the puffs- maybe placing a layer on the biscuit before the meat, then again on top. I had a left over tomato from making the chicken pizzas, so we added that to the meat mixture. Brian browned the meat and I cut the onion and tomato and started flattening the biscuits (the first time I've recognized the need for a rolling pin, but stretching them by hand worked fine).

Very easy, very delicious, and I would definitely do this again!:)

Putting the tops on

We added cheese on top of them before baking

ready to eat!

 

 

YUMMY!

Chicken Pizza

Here is the recipe I used from Taste of Home: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Chicken-Pizza . I actually used their book but found their site to be able to post the recipe:)

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 prebaked 12-inch pizza crust
• 1/4 cup prepared pesto
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

I used pesto like the recipe said and then tomato pasta sauce on the other because Brian wasn't sure he'd like pesto on his pizza (so now I have half a jar of pesto left over), but he ended up liking both! We used frozen precooked chicken strips instead of buying raw chicken breasts because I already had that chicken in my freezer. I didn't measure out the black beans, just spread them out and ended up having  a lot left over that I used with some pasta I made later that week. We also ended up using one tomato for the two pizzas (instead of 1 per pizza like the recipe sounds like it should be) mostly because Brian and I are not the biggest tomato fans (ESPECIALLY Brian).


A great success! Maybe next time I'll try making my own crust.

Nutella-Mallow Pillow Pockets

I found this recipe and saved it for a rainy day:
http://picky-palate.com/2010/11/08/nutella-mallow-pillow-pockets/


That rainy day came this week! My roommates and I are feeding the missionaries this Sunday, and I decided I wanted to be in charge of the dessert:) On Thursday I did not feel like working on homework after a full morning of just that and then a full afternoon of class, so I thought I would go buy all the stuff and do a trial run:)

I'd never used puff pastry before, and it wasn't difficult to use, just takes some time to defrost. The only thing I'm going to add for when I make them Sunday is to put cooking spray on the aluminum foil that I put on the cookie sheet while baking. My pastries stuck pretty badly to the foil. But they tasted delicious! They even taste good after sitting for a few hours, I put one in the microwave to warm it up and soften it a little and it still tasted great.

The only downside is that the puff pastry sheets are kind of expensive, especially since each box will only make  8 of these pastries. BUT one pastry (which is a fourth of a pastry sheet) is plenty of dessert for one person, they are a pretty good sized dessert!