Jimmy’s Mexican Pizza

I’m not a big fast food person, but apparently Taco Bell has something they call “Mexican Pizza.” Apparently it’s pretty good. I knew when a recipe for something similar popped up on allrecipes.com, it would be well-received in my house. Anyway, I was getting sick of our usual collection of Tex-Mex recipes, so it was nice to try something different.

Start off by putting a half pound of ground beef in a skillet with some minced garlic. I skipped the onion that was called for because I didn’t have any.

Cook it up until browned, and then drain the grease out. At this point, add your seasonings: chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. It seemed like a lot to add to just a little bit of beef, but I’d rather have a lot of flavor than just a touch.

Here it is all mixed together.

Now, the recipe said to spread some refried beans from a can on a flour tortilla. It did not say whether it was necessary to heat them first. I thought that cold beans seemed gross, even though it would be baked in the oven, so I went ahead and warmed them in a pan before spreading on my tortillas.

I think this is brilliant: tortillas in pie plates. Keeps everything from spilling out!

And here they are with the beans.

And then topped by the seasoned beef.

Next, I put another tortilla on top of each one and put them both in the oven for about 10 minutes..

Meanwhile, I snipped up some green onions.

And prepared the rest of my ingredients. Jalapeno slices, salsa, and canned tomatoes (ideally fresh, but I didn’t have any).

When the pies came back out, I smeared the little bit of salsa that I had on them.

Then some cheese…

And then tomatoes, green onions, and jalapeno slices.

I put them back in the oven for about 10 more minutes, and here you go!

I served them cut in slices with a little dollop of sour cream on top, along with a side of Mexican rice.

Very yummy! Here’s the recipe, if you’d like to give it a try.

It made for good leftovers, as well.