Taco Crescent Squares 

Verdict: Success

Neighbor-worthy

Sometimes I fall for ads in corners of pages when I'm on the web...like one that linked me to this recipe from Paula Deen.  There was not anything particularly special or flashy about it except for the word "Taco" which makes my stomach growl.  My bf always says that I could eat Mexican every day...he's right.  This one actually eats like a Mexi-pastry creation or even like a stuffed Mexican pizza.  It has a nice balance of sweet and savory.

The recipe I lifted is simple enough and left room for me to do my stuff....

Ingredients:

1 onion finely chopped

2 lbs ground chuck ground turkey meat

1 package taco seasoning

1 cup enchilada sauce

2 cups 1 cup shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend (use low-fat)

4 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1 large egg beaten 2 egg whites beaten

sour cream reduced-fat sour cream for garnish

+ salt and pepper

+ olive oil

+ yellow, orange or red bell pepper chopped

+ 1 jalapeño chopped (and seeded if you're a heat wuss)

+ 5 cloves garlic chopped

+ 1 1/4 cup beef stock

+ 14 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

+ 1 handful cilantro chopped

Pre-heat your oven to 375°

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet over Medium+ heat.  Add your turkey meat and break up with a wooden spoon while browning.  After the browning process has gotten a good start, season your meat with the taco mix, salt and pepper.  When completely browned, add your onions, peppers and garlic.  Cook until your veggies are soft.  Throw in the stick and mix  with your spoon.  Cook for a few minutes and add your tomatoes.  Allow to simmer until the liquid has had a chance to reduce and fold in your cilantro.   Continue to let it to reduce for a bit while you prepare the rest of your recipe.  Add your cheese and mix.

Lightly grease a  17"x 12" rimmed baking sheet.  If you want to curb the heat some, use butter.  If you don't, use a vegetable spray like PAM.).  Unroll 2 of your crescent cans.  Press dough into the baking sheet, pressing edges together.  Bake about 8 minutes.

Spoon the meat mixture on top of the baked crust and unroll the other two crescent cans and place over the meat mixture.  Brush the top dough with the egg.  Bake between 25-30 minutes.  KEEP AN EYE ON IT and pull it out when golden brown.  Let cool a few; cut into squares; top it with some  enchilada sauce,  sour cream or maybe some hot sauce and plate it.

Notes:

This is a very easy recipe that virtually anyone can do.  The original recipe was just like making tacos with mix and adding an onion.....boring.

Tweaks:

I pretty much substituted the whole inside of this dish.  I added a bunch of ingredients (listed above) to make a more fresh and natural tasting taco filler with a little more heat to it.

Healthy Tweaks:

I swapped ground chuck with turkey meat.

I used reduced fat sour cream as well as low-fat cheeses for this recipe.

I used egg whites instead of a "regular" egg.

Have recipes for me?  e-mail me: TheManicCheater@gmail.com   And for goodness sake, please get into the comments section.