Taco Ring

3/4 lb lean ground beef
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4oz.)
2 tablespoons water
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 medium bell pepper
1 cup salsa
3 cups lettuce, shredded
1 medium tomato
1/4 cup onions, chopped (opitonal)
1/2 cup pitted ripe black olives (optional)
sour cream (optional)


Cook ground beef in large skillet over medium heat 7-9 minutes or until beef is no longer pink;drain.
Remove pan from heat.
Stir in taco seasoning mix,cheese and water.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Unroll cresent dough;separate into triangles.
Arrange triangles in a cirlce on Classic Round Pizza Stone with wide ends overlapping in center and points toward outside.
(There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in center.) I use my pampered chef pizza stone but any flat round pan should work, perhaps even a pizza sheet but I'd spray it with Pam before adding the cresent rolls.
Scoop meat mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of ring.
(Filling will not be completely covered).
Bake at 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Shred Lettuce,and chop tomatoe,onion,and olives,and bell pepper if desired.
If you want to do something fancy, scoop out a bell pepper and fill with salsa and put into center of ring.
Add your toppings to top of ring and finish with more shredded cheese and sour cream.

Bubble Up Pizza

1 tube biscuits
1 jar pizza sauce
Whatever pizza toppings you like (pepperoni, cheese, tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms, canadian bacon, pineapple, etc.)

Cut each biscuit into fourths. Put them in a large mixing bowl, cover with pizza sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like. Mix well, then spread in a greased baking dish, top with foil and bake at temperature indicated on biscuit tube. Keep checking the pan, once the biscuits are cooked (usually 15-20 minutes), top with cheese and uncover.

Note: Make sure you use a big enough pan, so that the biscuits are spread out. Otherwise they won't bake correctly and you'll have raw dough.

Lasagna Rolls

28-ounce can tomato sauce
8 lasagna noodles
10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained of liquid
15-ounce carton low-fat ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain well. Thaw spinach and place in a towel to squeeze out any liquid.Mix together spinach, ricotta cheese, Parmesan and ground pepper. Lay cooked lasagna noodles out flat. Spread about 1/4 cup of the filling on each noodle and roll up. Place a small amount of tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking pan. Top with a little tomato sauce. Cover with foil. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

Baked Ziti

1/2 pound dried ziti (or penne)
15 or 16 ounces ricotta cheese (part skim)
3 cups (or 12 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
3 cups (or a 26-ounce jar) spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the ziti. Cook until tender, about 8 minutes, drain the pasta. 2. Place the ziti in a large bowl. Mix with the ricotta and half of the mozzarella. Grease a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish. Spread half of the spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan. Add the ziti mixture and cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan and the remaining mozzarella. 3. Bake uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the casserole bubbles on the edges.

Note: You can also add any fresh veggies you want to this. I'll often add fresh sliced mushrooms, diced green peppers, and julienned zucchini if I have it.

Ground Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces sour cream
8 to 10 ounces pasta (egg noodles work best and make athicker sauce)
Shot of Worcestershire sauce

Brown ground beef and chopped onion over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add the soup, sour cream and Worcestershire. Stir in 3 soup cans of water. Add pasta and mix to cover with liquid. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, until pasta is tender.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

½ cup butter or margarine
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 large egg
½ tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cups flour
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 – 14 oz. Packages of miniature peanut butter cups

Mix all ingredients except the peanut butter cups. Beat for one minute after mixing.Form into one inch balls and place in mini muffin tins or on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. While they are baking, remove the foil from the peanut butter cups. It works best if you eat one of every four that you unwrap.When the cookies come out of the oven, press one peanut butter cup all the way in to the center of each cookie. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes before removing to cooling racks.

Chocolate covered pretzels

1 bag waffle pretzels
1 bag plain m&ms
1 bag chocolate stars (can use kisses, but using stars eliminates having to unwrap all those kisses)

Preheat oven to 350. Put waffle pretzels on a cookie sheet, put a star on top. Bake for 2 minutes or just until chocolate is soft. Remove from oven, and put an M&M in the middle of the star, smashing the star down. Cool and store.

You can also use rolos for these, but I don't put m&ms in the middle of them, I just leave them plain.