When I joined CRB, I expected that playing gigs would be fun (and it is). An unexpected bonus has been meeting and jamming with some other talented musicians. One of my favorite jamming buddies is Dave, a fellow Illinois native and Cubs fan. Dave is a guitar player, bass player and lead vocalist. Here's a link to his new band, Redline.Moving onto the food part of this post ... Dave tried (and liked - hooray!) my Jalapeno Popper Cups, so he sent me one of his favorite recipes. It looked tasty and easy, and since I'm knee deep in spring cleaning and decorating, it looked like a good solution for a family dinner. Another advantage of this recipe was that it was easy to adapt for the various members of my family.
I divided the pizza dough in half and made the recipe two ways: one Dave's way, and the other without any veggies (unless you count taco sauce). I doubled the beef so the veggie-free pizza wouldn't be sparse. For the veggie-free version, my husband used taco sauce as a base, topped it with meat, cheese, and nacho chips, then drizzled with more sauce. Not health food to be sure, but it made them happy.For the two of us that ate it Dave's way, I added sour cream as a garnish. We found it to be tasty, and liked the crunch of the Doritos on top.
In other words, thumbs-up from the whole family! Thanks Dave!
Dave's Rockin' Taco Pizza
Note from Dave: This is a pretty messy pizza so add the topping sparingly. They really add up. Its a fork and knife kind of pizza.
1 28-oz. package fresh pizza dough
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of refried beans
1 2.25 oz. can of black olives
1/8 – 1/4 cup jalapeño slices
1/2 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped lettuce
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
1 2 5/8 oz bag of nacho cheese Doritos
1/4 cup taco sauce
Seasoning for ground beef:
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp Hungarian paprika
1 tsp garlic granules or powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Set the dough out at least an hour before working with it. Once the dough has risen, pre-heat the oven according to the directions on the dough. Brown the ground beef and season with your favorite taco seasoning or use the recipe above. Roll the dough out for the shape of you favorite pizza pan. Spread a layer of refried beans on the dough. Refried beans are kind of hard to spread so it helps to heat them up a little in the microwave. Top the pizza with the seasoned ground beef, black olives, jalapeños and cheese. Bake the pizza according to the directions on the dough.
Once the pizza is baked, top it with the lettuce, tomatoes and crushed Doritos. Drizzle the taco sauce over the top of all of this. Once the pizza has cooled for a minute, slice and enjoy with Tracy’s Jalapeño Popper Cups!