I admittedly have a lot of “favorites” when it comes to food, but one constant favorite of mine is Mexican food. I could eat at our local Mexican restaurant every night for dinner and I’d be delighted to have Taco Bell for lunch each day. Yes, yes I did just admit to loving Taco Bell on a food blog. I kinda have a thing for drive thru food. Don’t hate.

Anyway, my love of Mexican food is deep and never-ending. I once told my husband that I wanted a divorce so that I could instead find an old Mexican grandma to marry. It would have been a match made in heaven.  However, I also have a love of pasta. It’s so carby and delicious. You can dress it up any way you like and one of my favorite ways to dress it up is with my other favorite…tacos.

And, okay, I probably shouldn’t call this Mexican food, but it’s my American version of Mexican food and man, is it ever tasty.

My daughter who routinely declares that she hates Mexican food, doesn’t want tacos, won’t eat that quesadilla, and WHERE IS MY CHEESEBURGER, MOTHER? ate this for lunch today. It’s all about presentation and this one is quite impressive.

You need a bit of extra time to prepare this as the pasta doesn’t just stand up in the pan all by itself, but it was much simpler than I anticipated. Smooshing the meat down into the tubes of pasta was pretty simple as well and the sound it made as it was sucked in was quite entertaining.

If, however, you are a normal person with a busy life who does not have the time to stand a pound of rigatoni noodles at attention, then just go ahead and toss this all together in a baking dish (9×13 would be good) and then cover with cheese and bake it that way. It’ll still taste good…it just won’t be as entertaining.

Y’all are gonna love this.

Taco Pie

• 1 lb rigatoni
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package taco seasoning (or your own recipe)
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups salsa
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups monterey jack cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the pasta until not quite al dente. I let mine boil for 2 minutes less than the package suggested for al dente. When the pasta is done, drain and rinse. Toss the pasta with 1/2 cup of monterey jack cheese.

While the pasta is boiling, brown the ground beef and drain. Add the taco seasoning and however much water is needed, per the directions on the taco packet. Cook for a few minutes over low heat and then add in the cream cheese. Allow the cream cheese to fully melt into the meat mixture. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of salsa.

Grease a springform pan and stand the rigatoni noodles up tightly in the pan. It may help to hold the pan at an angle to get them to stand when you’re first standing them up. This step really is easier than you would think!

Spread the meat mixture on top of the noodles and use a straw to poke the meat down into the holes of the noodles. When you’ve poked the meat in as much as you can, pour the remaining half cup of salsa over the top. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 cups of cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the pan and cutting. Enjoy!

My little family likes things simple. They don’t do fancy food. They don’t want to look at it. They don’t want to smell it. They certainly don’t want to eat it. They don’t even want to hear the word fancy in relation to food. It’s a tough life I live.

Some days I plop down in the middle of my kitchen floor and I sob about it all. Other days, like today, I embrace the simple life. If I’m considering cooking something for my family but I’m not sure if they’ll eat it, I just ask myself one question.

Does it have ketchup in it?

If the answer is yes, there’s about a 95% chance they’re going to eat it.

With that rule in mind, I put together today’s lunch for me and the kids. These little Barbecue Biscuits are simple food, they contain ketchup, and not only do my kids love them, but so do I.

Let’s make these, shall we?

Quite a lot of my favorite recipes start like this: Dump a pound of ground beef into a pan and start browning it. I can’t help it. Ground beef is so versatile and kid-friendly. Also, it’s pretty yummy.

I always make one pound of ground beef for this, but I usually have a bit of left over meat. I like having the leftovers for lunch the next day, but if you aren’t a fan of leftovers, just use 3/4 of a pound of meat.

While your beef is browning, let’s make the sauce. Again, nothing fancy, this is just homemade sloppy joe sauce. You can’t go wrong with sloppy joe sauce. If you already have a favorite sauce, go ahead and use it. If you don’t, try mine. It’s pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

This sauce is just ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Stir it together and dump it into the pan of cooked ground beef and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Told ya this was simple.

While the meat is simmering, grab your muffin tin. I always use regular sized muffins, but my tin was at my mama’s house so I had to use my mini muffin tin. It was kind of a pain in the butt, but I persevered.

Grab a can of refrigerator biscuit dough (or make up your favorite recipe of dough) and roll each biscuit into a ball. Flatten it out and press it into the muffin tins so that you have a little bowl shape. If you are using a mini muffin tin, use a half biscuit for each muffin.

Spoon as much as will fit into each biscuit and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. I let mine bake a little too long today and they got a bit crunchy. That didn’t stop my son from eating his weight in barbecue biscuits, though.

If you think your family can handle the excitment of it, go ahead a sprinkle a little grated cheddar cheese over the tops as soon as you take them from the oven.

(I was concerned about the above picture being kind of ugly, so I asked my husband what he would think if he just stumbled across that picture on the internet. “Would you want to eat that,” I asked. He looked at it and replied, “No. I’d ask myself what the heck they did to that muffin.” I have to say, I’m thrilled to provide y’all with such stunning photography here on Buns In My Oven.)

Barbecue Biscuits

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (regular sized biscuits, 10 total)
• grated cheddar cheese, for topping

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, cook ground beef until no longer pink. Drain fat. In a small bowl, mix together ketchup, water, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Pour onto ground beef and stir to combine. Simmer over low heat for ten minutes.

While meat is simmering, roll each biscuit into a bowl, flatten and stretch the dough to fit in the muffin tin.

Spoon the meat into the biscuit cups and bake for about 10 minutes or until the dough is starting to brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese immediately.

What would you all say if I told you that I had never, NOT EVER, eaten a meatball until October 25, 2008. It’s true. October 25. I’ll remember that day fondly for as long as I shall live.

(Okay, so I should mention that my first ever taste of a meatball was at a wedding and THAT is how I remember the date. I don’t generally remember the dates of the first tastes of food.)

I’ve made meatballs quite a few times since then. I like meatballs. Teryiaki meatballs. Served on a toothpick. Because I’m fancy.

I made these meatballs for a New Year’s Eve get together and then I ate them all. You should make them for your next party. But save some for your guests. Or just make them for dinner like I did the other night.

Let’s get started.

Let’s start with a pound of ground beef.

Alright now. Hold on to your hats. When I make meatloaf or meatballs, I don’t use bread crumbs. I use Stove Top Stuffing. That’s right. Stove Top. It is SO good. Measure out about a cup of dry stuffing and add just enough water to moisten it. You don’t want it soppy wet, but you don’t want it dry either.

Dump that on top of your meat.

You can make your own sauce if you like, but that’s too much work for me. I LOVE this teriyaki sauce, so that’s what I use. Use whichever brand you like most. Or make your own, you over-achiever.

Dump in about 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce and crack one egg right on top. You can sprinkle in a bit of garlic powder or any other spices you like right about now. I usually keep it simple and go for salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.

If you don’t live with a bunch of picky eaters, you can also add in some chopped onions at this point. Or some bell peppers. Or some grated carrot. It’s all good. Unless you are married to my husband and then it’s all bad.

Now go ahead and stir everything together. At this point I decided that I had too high of a meat to stuffing ratio and so I threw in some oats. Oats make me feel healthy. If you prefer you can add a bit more stuffing. But the oats are good too. I promise. I added about 1/2 of a cup.

Mm, mm. Raw meat. (Gag.)

Now get your hands back in there and gently form it into little balls.  I shoot for golf ball sized meatballs, but you can make them a bit smaller or bigger if you prefer. Just remember, the bigger they are the longer it will take to cook them.

If you have a bright yellow plate, use it. Arrange your meatballs in the shape of a smiley face. It’ll make you happy. I promise.

Add about 1/4 inch of oil to a deep 10-12 inch round skillet. Get it good and hot and then add your meatballs.

Fried meat. It’s good.

I believe I cooked these for about 8-10 minutes, flipping them over once halfway through.

When they are finished cooking, put them on a paper towel lined plate and let them drain for a minute or two.

If you’re like me and you have a good, healthy fear of raw meat you can crack one of these open and check to be sure it’s done. If it is, go ahead and eat it. If it’s not, weep.

Add another batch of meatballs to your skillet. While those are cooking you’ll need to keep the others warm. I like to dump about 3/4 cup of teriyaki sauce into the bottom of my crock pot, set it to low, and add the cooked and drained meatballs to that. It keeps them warm and it lets them soak in the teriyaki sauce. Trust me…a teriyaki sauce bath is a good thing.

Serve ‘em on a bed of rice. Or next to rice. Or with a toothpick stuck in the middle of them. Or with a fork. Or just get a shovel and start scooping them right into your open mouth.

Teriyaki Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup Stove Top Stuffing for Chicken
• water, to moisten stuffing
• 1 cup teriyaki sauce, divided
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• oil for frying

1. Mix together all ingredients except oil.

2. Form into golf ball sized balls.

3. Add meatballs to hot oil. Don’t overcrowd pan. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until meat is fully cooked.

4. Drain on a paper towel and transfer to a crockpot (or dish in the oven) with 3/4 cup teriyaki sauce. Roll meatballs around to coat in sauce.

5. Serve as an appetizer (with fancy toothpicks!) or as a main dish.