#206: Taco Pinwheel

This dinner was supposed to be on my menu for January, but it kept getting bumped around.  It's about time we made and ate this one!  The original recipe suggests making this into a fancy, pretty pinwheel....yeah, that's too much work!  I rolled out about 2/3 of the dough and pressed it on the bottom and up the sides of an 8x8 pan.  Then I filled it with the taco meat filling, added some shredded cheese, and then topped with the remaining dough rolled out into a rectangle and just fitted on top.  MUCH easier!

Brian and I enjoyed this one, but the girls weren't such big fans.  Next time, I would probably make half of the amount of dough and just put half of it on the bottom of the pan (not up the sides) and then the remaining amount on top.  As is, this is quite filling.  You don't need to have much in the way of side dishes with this one!  The picture above, is how it looks out of the oven (also how Brian and the girls ate it).  Mine however was topped with picante sauce, sour cream, green onion, and mixture of cabbage/cilantro/lime juice.

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1 T. chili powder
2 t. cumin
2 t. salt
1 t. garlic powder
1/4 c. water
1 14.5 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 4oz. can diced green chili peppers (I used about half)
2 c. flour
1/2 c. corn meal (plus extra for dusting)
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
6 T. butter or margarine
1/3 c. milk (I needed almost 1 c to get mine moist enough)
1 c. shredded cheese
Standard taco toppings, optional

Cook the ground beef and onions in a large skillet until beef is fully cooked. Drain.  Stir in the seasonings, water, tomatoes and chili peppers.  Bring to a slow boil and simmer until thickened.  This is where I froze mine until we were ready to make this meal.

Combine the flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt.  Cut in the butter or margarine until crumbly.  Stir in the milk just until dough is moist. Knead about 8-10 times.  Sprinkle your work surface with cornmeal and roll dough into a large circle (or rectangle like I did).  Place in an 8x8 pan and work the dough up the sides.  Spoon the taco filling into the center of the dough. Top with a cup of shredded cheese.  Then top with remaining cornmeal/flour dough.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until corn biscuit crust is lightly browned.