2 for 1: Taco Salad and Calzones

The Coach's birthday was last weekend and we had one of his favorites: taco salad. I know, this hardly calls for a recipe; you just throw all your favorite taco fillings on top of tortilla chips. But here is our house's version:

For starters, we skip the taco seasoning packet and make our own. I really don't measure the spices too carefully, but our mix goes a little something like...2 Tablespoons flour, 1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder, 2 teaspoons cumin, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pinch of both black and white pepper. You can go heavier or lighter on the cayenne to adjust heat levels. Anyway, mix all those together in a bowl. Brown one pound lean ground venison/beef/turkey/what-have-you in a skillet; then add the seasoning mix and 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.

Our assembly goes...
1. Tortilla Chips
2. Hot Brown Rice
3. Taco Meat
4. Shredded Cheese
5. Pinto/Black Beans
6. Corn
7. Avocado

You can have this meal from stove to table in less than 20 minutes, if you're intense in the kitchen.


So then the question became, what do we do with the leftovers? I'm always a fan of leftovers for lunch the next day, but we still had tons of taco stuff left after one round of leftovers. So the next night I tried something a little crazy.

Taco calzones.

I started by dumping all the leftovers (taco meat, black/pinto beans, corn, and rice) in a skillet and pouring one can of tomato sauce over everything. I also added probably 1 Tablespoon of chili powder and 2 teaspoons cumin to flavor the sauce.


While that heated up, I made a pizza crust, just like the one I made in this post. I rolled it out flat on a baking sheet and ladled my filling over one side of it. And of course topped everything with cheese.



Then I folded the top down, pressed down the edges, and baked at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes.


It was good.

Enjoy! Twice!