The Infamous Taco Ring

During spring break of my sophomore year of college, I took a day trip to College Station to visit my newlywed friend, Sally! Me and Joanna made the trek up there together (as if it was so far) because that week we were off, but A&M was not. It was perfect and the day was so much fun! That evening while we were waiting for her hubby, Jon, to get home she announced to us that she'd be making a Taco Ring for dinner that night. Immediately we were interested, because in that home, anything involving the word taco is undeniably delightful. We watched her make this intricate ring and then devoured it. Once I realized how easy it was to make, it became my staple meal in college. I impressed everybody with my cooking skillz by making this for them at some point. You see, I didn't quite get the spiritual gift of cooking, so I was overjoyed when anyone was impressed with this dish. It meant they were impressed with me. Ha!

Still to this day, seven years later, it is my staple. Yet I owe all credit to Sally for introducing me to said Taco Ring.

Last night on twitter I announced I was making the taco ring and it became quite the talk. And when I say it became quite the talk, I mean all of 3 people were interested in it, however, I decided it would be fun to put the recipe on the blog.

While cooking I used my handy dandy iPhone to take some saintlike photos so that you could see just in fact, what a taco ring is. I tried to be all Pioneer Woman like with my photography skillz, especially taking pictures while I was cooking, but I failed miserably. How does she do it?

Without further ado, here is my first, and quite possibly the only, recipe you'll see on the ole blog.

Ingredients:
1 Can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 lb of Ground Beef
1 Package of Taco Seasoning
1 Package of Mexican Shredded Cheese

Extra Toppings Include:
1 Tub of Sour Cream
1 Package of Guacamole (Or you can make your own!)
1 Can of Salsa
1 Bag of Lettuce (If you want some crunch!)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375º
2. Thoroughly cook the ground beef as you normally would. Once cooked, poor out the fat accumulated and add the package of seasoning to give it some extra flair. I mean, flavor.
3. While you let the meat simmer, take the crescent rolls of out the package and separate them into their individual triangles.
4. Once separated, using the wide end of the triangle, create a star like shape connecting all 8 pieces on a cooking pan. Sprinkle the cheese around the middle once all the pieces are connected.

5. Take the meat and scatter it around the middle of the ring, then add more cheese on top. I say the more cheese, the better. You'll have meat falling over the edges, but don't be alarmed.

6. Once the meat is scattered, take the ends of the crescent rolls and fold them over into the middle of the ring, tucking them under and connecting them together. It's a hard technique, I tell ya. Hard.

7. Once all sides are perfectly folded over, place in oven and cook for 11 - 13 minutes. However, don't take me at my word, check the label before you do anything I say.

8. Once the crescent layers have all reached that sweet golden brown color, take out of the oven, let it sit for approximately 78 seconds, add extra toppings at your cost (I add ALL of them!) and let your taste buds have a little celebration.
9. If you're hungry, this feeds about 3 people. If you're not so hungry, it feeds about 4 which I think is the correct proportion.
10. It was only appropriate that I shared this recipe with you on Cinco de Mayo! I totally planned that. Except I totally didn't.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!