Taco Pie

Taco Pie 1 - My Daughter and I

I have been in a bit of a cooking rut. Since we haven’t really had much of a winter all my plans to make soups and comfort foods have gone out the window. It’s pretty tough to enjoy a bowl of hot chili when it’s 90* out. So Monday I realized I had NO plan for dinner. I noticed a pie crust in the refrigerator that needed to be used and I remembered we had some ground beef in the freezer so my brain started working. In the end, we had this taco pie for dinner. It was simple and delicious and a bit of a change from our regular taco or burrito night.

Taco Pie 2 - My Daughter and I

Taco Pie
1 pie crust
3/4 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 – 16 ounce can refried beans
1- 16 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup frozen corn
Taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
Tortilla chips, crushed – approximately 1 cup

Directions:
Unroll pie crust and form into pie plate, trim edges and poke with a fork. Bake for 6 – 8 minutes at 450*.

While the crust is cooking, start getting the filling going. Brown the ground beef in a skillet, add the chopped onion and cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat, if necessary. Add the taco seasoning, tomatoes and corn and cook for about 5 minutes.

When the crust is finished, remove from the oven. Turn oven down to 350*

Spread the refried beans carefully on the bottom of your crust. I used a deep dish pie plate, so I was able to use the entire can of beans. If you would rather use a small pie plate, I would use only half the can. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese on next. Then add the ground beef mixture. The pie plate should be pretty full. Add the crushed tortilla chips. I would suggest crushing them pretty well, or it will be difficult to cut through the cooked pie. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.

Bake at 350* for about 15 until the top is bubbly. Garnish with green onions and sour cream.

Cindy

Glazed Lemon Cookies

Lemon Cookies 1 - My Daughter and I

I was browsing Pinterest the other day and came across this recipe and knew I had to make it right then. Those of you who have experienced the extremely addictive attributes of Pinterest know how monumental this is. I’d like to say that I repinned the recipe, and then got up and made it immediately.

That would be a bit of an exaggeration though. I actually repinned the recipe, spent another 45 minutes wasting time considering all the ways I could be improving my life, and then I got up and made lemon cookies. That’s pretty much how Pinterest works.

My life used to be fantastic and productive, until I got a Pinterest account. Now it's just fantastic.

Back to the cookies. We decided that they tasted like lemon pound cake in cookie form. In other words, they are amazing. Normally, recipes like this aren’t lemon-ey enough for my taste, but this was perfect. One last note: the recipe says to cook for 9-11 minutes- I cooked mine for 11 minutes and they were perfect, but if your oven cooks hot, definitely keep an eye on them. You do not want them to brown! If you think they might be done, pull them out- they’ll cook a bit more on the cookie sheet.

Lemon Cookies 2 - My Daughter and I

Glazed Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

Zest of 2 lemons (about 1 1/2 Tbsp)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Zest from 1 lemon

Directions:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fit with paddle attachment, whip together butter, sugar and lemon zest on medium-high speed, until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Blend in egg, then egg yolk. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla extract. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Scoop dough out by the heaping tablespoonfuls, form into balls and drop onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Bake in 350* oven for 9 – 11 minutes. The cookies should not brown.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Drizzle cooled cookies with Lemon Glaze (you can do this while they are still slightly warm if desired).

Store in a single layer in an airtight container.

Lemon Glaze:
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to reach a drizzle-able consistency (about 2 Tbsp). Zest in lemon zest. Drizzle over cookies and allow glaze to set at room temperature.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

Recipe Source: Cooking Classy – modified slightly.

Jordan