FOOD: Pampered Chef "Taco Ring"

Last night, my friend Billy came over for dinner and to celebrate my birthday (Late! (ha)). Anyways, we made a Pampered Chef "Taco Ring". It's easy and fun to make. I've posted the recipe below. Though, a lot of the ingredients listed were actually optional, so I marked them as such.

Anyways, we went through a couple bottles of Wild Vines wine (I went through an entire one by myself on Saturday... so this stuff isn't very strong) and watched some episodes of Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe (France) and then Waitress and then Wordplay -- it was a movie night because we couldn't run since it was raining and lightning-ing.

Anyways, here's the recipe and some food pics!:

Ingredients

* 1/2 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
* 1 1.25 oz package taco seasoning mix
* 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
* 2 tbsp water
* 2 8 oz pkgs. refrigerated crescent roll dough

* 1 med. green bell pepper (very optional)
* 1/2 head lettuce, shredded (optional)
* 1 med. tomato, cubed (optional)
* 1 small onion, chopped (very optional)
* 1/2 cup whole pitted black olives, sliced (very optional)
* 1 cup salsa (optional)
* sour cream (optional)

Preparation

* Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
* Combine meat, seasoning mix, cheese and water in 2 qt. batter bowl.
* Arrange crescent triangles in a circle on a 13" round baking stone, with bases overlapping in center and points to outside (there should be about a 5" diameter circle in center).
* Using medium stainless steel scoop spoon meat mixture over rolls.
* Fold points of triangles over filling and tuck under base at center (filling will not be completely covered).
* Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

* Using V-shaped cutter, cut off top of bell pepper.
* Place bell pepper in center of ring; fill with salsa.
* Mound lettuce, onion, tomato and olives around pepper.
* Using easy accent decorator, garnish with sour cream.
* Cut and serve.