Taco Puffs

I'm not really sure what else to call these. A coworker and I were sharing recipes and she said these are how she usually uses up leftover taco meat. Now, I know it sounds ridiculous to have leftover taco meat and want something that isn't just more tacos, but for me it happens because I run out of taco ingredients at different paces, and meat seems to always be last.

My instructions on these weren't incredibly specific, but they are very simple, so I managed and they were pretty tasty. Jeff said he would be fine for these as a regular means of using up excess taco meat, so I consider that a win. He also said "Plus they're a different shape, so I like them." So, there's that. No, I did not have more clarity on what they were a different shape than. Than tacos? Than each other? We will have to live our lives with this mystery.

The cheese residue that would get stuck on my hands when I reached into the bag tended to make it hard to pinch the crescent roll seams closed, but I just kept a paper towel handy and wiped the residue off between the cheese and pinch steps.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
-Taco Meat (If you don't have any already prepared, I'd make some with ground beef and taco seasoning. Follow the instructions on the seasoning, but I doubt you'll use all the meat)
-Shredded Mexican Cheese
-Crescent Rolls (I used 2 rolls and had 3 left from about 1/2 a pound of leftover meat)

Directions:
-If the meat is not already prepared, do that. Follow the instructions on the back of the seasoning packet.
-Preheat oven according to the crescent roll instructions (mine were 375)
-Unroll the dough and separate the rolls. Put a little spoonful on each at the widest area and top with a little pinch of cheese.
-Seal the roll by pinching edges together in any way you can. I got creative with some of mine and they were all kinds of goofy shapes. The important part is to seal all openings as best you can.
-Place the sealed puffs on a baking sheet and bake according to roll instructions (mine said 10-12 minutes and were done at the 10)

Apple Goat Cheese Pizza

This is easily one of the most pretentious foods I've ever prepared. I first had it at a restaurant that my family liked to meet up at in Mt Airy. The place used to serve very awesome specialty pizzas along with other general bar food. Unfortunately, they changed their menu one day and got rid of all of the awesome stuff they served. We've gone back once since, but the menu is so sparse and bland now that it's not worth it and we probably won't go again.

This pizza was my favorite on the menu, and I would crave it and specifically go to this restaurant to get it. Once they stopped serving it, I decided that Jeff and I would have to try to make it ourselves.

We usually make the dough ourselves with a recipe Jeff found a while ago that we'd been using for homemade pizzas. This most recent time, though, we decided to buy a pre-made pizza crust to save time because the homemade dough has to rise for 2 hours. I definitely prefer the pizza with the homemade dough, but this may be because the only crust we could get was whole grain. I felt like this one tried to have too much of a presence as a taste and it challenged all of the toppings' flavors rather than melding with them.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
Dough (If making your own):
1 tsp Active dry yeast
1 Cup water
2.5 Cups flour
1 tsp Salt
Olive Oil

Toppings:
1 Granny smith apple, cored and cut into thin slices
2-3oz Goat cheese crumbles (I got a 4 oz tub and didn't use all of it)
2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Olive Oil

Directions:
- Prepare Dough: In medium bowl, mix yeast in water. Let sit 5-10 min.
- Combine Flour and Salt in a large bowl. Add yeast/water mixture.
- Remove dough from bowl, wipe it out smooth, then coat in oil. Let sit in bowl covered with paper towel 2 hours to rise.
- Preheat oven to 500. Shape dough into crust on top of pizza stone or baking sheet
- Brush with extra olive oil and place a layer of mozzarella cheese
- Top with apple slices and goat cheese crumbles
- Finish with another layer of mozzarella cheese and bake for 12-15 minutes