Hump Day Happenings

Made a big pot of split pea soup with the ham bone left over from Easter.  It was a cold and rainy day when I made this, so it hit the spot.

This is when I put it on in the morning.  It cooked all day, and we had it for dinner, and Drew came over after work to finish it off.  No picture of the finished soup.

Yesterday we had our two solar tubes installed.  What a difference those make!  We have a couple rooms here that tend to be very dark.  So Greg wanted to have this done before the new roof goes on next week.  We put one in our master bath dressing area, and one in the bathroom/laundry room off the pool.  This bathroom has no window, and it is cave dark!!  I keep a nightlight on in that room all the time.  No need to anymore!

I keep walking past that room thinking someone left a door open.  It is so bright.

Last night I made Mexican Pizza for dinner.  I saw this on my friend Pam's blog..For the love of cooking.   She has the most beautiful food blog!  I have gotten so many ideas from her posts of creative food ideas.  I have made tacos and tostados for my family many times, but never done this method before.  I didn't actually follow her recipe, but instead I made my ground beef mixture like I usually do, and added a package of taco seasoning and simmered.  Then followed her method for preparing the tortillas and baking in the oven. 

Place silpat sheet on cooking tray.  Lay flour tortilla on silpat and spread with refried beans.  I didn't even heat these, just scooped it from can onto tortilla.  Place generous amount of seasoned beef on top.  Then lay another flour tortilla over top. 

I was able to fit two pizzas on one large sheet.  Place these into a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 min.  The tortillas will crisp up nicely for the next step.

When they come out of the oven, spread tops with salsa.  On top of that sprinkle your cheese.  Then put back into oven for 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

This is before they went back into the oven to melt.  About this time, we got a visitor, and I got sidetracked.   Take them out after cheese is melted, and top with whatever you like.  I didn't have any cilantro which I love with Mexican food.  I couldn't believe I didn't have a single ripe avocado either!  We have 6 avocado trees, and I didn't have a single one to use!  We even picked a bunch last weekend, but I guess we gave them all away. 

When our visitor came, we all sat down to eat, and I didn't get a picture of it all pretty on the plate.  This is the other half of mine, still on the baking sheet.  I topped them with sliced olives, fresh tomatoes, lettuce and green onions.  But next time I plan to have avocado and some Mexican Cotija cheese!!!   Oh and cilantro too.  These were DELICIOUS!!!!!!!  We all loved them, and I couldn't believe I had never done Mexican this way before. So easy, and healthier than frying taco shells too.    Greg mentioned that he thought these would make nice appetizers cut into wedges too.  Thanks Pam...you rock!!!