Author Archives: Cadry's Kitchen

Black Bean Taco Pizza – a taste of nostalgia

Posted on by
23

One of the biggest surprises in moving to the West Coast was the near total lack of taco pizza.  That was astonishing to me as taco pizza is an institution in the Midwest.  You’ll find it on the menu of every pizza place from the one at the gas station, to the mom and pop restaurants, and even to national pizza chains that make a specialty taco pizza for their taco loving locals.  The one that was my favorite growing up was from Happy Joe’s.  Happy Joe’s started in Bettendorf, Iowa.  It was the go-to place for kids’ birthday parties at a time when Chuck E. Cheese was still just a twinkling in some animatronic rat’s eye.  In celebration of Little Emmy Lou or Billy Joe Jr.’s big day, an employee would come out with a squeaky black horn.  A siren would sound and the room would go quiet while the employee announced, “Emmy Lou is seven today!  Let’s all join in to sing happy birthday!”  A roomful of strangers would sing while Emmy Lou beamed.  Afterwards, kids would steal pens from their mothers’ purses to fill out the word games on their paper placemats and chuckle over jokes printed on them that were sent in from kids all over the Midwest.

“Why did the man put his car in the oven?  He wanted a hot rod.”  (Can you imagine the hot pads that guy must own?  They have to be huge.)

Then the kids would beg for quarters and run off to play in the arcade while parents talked over pitchers of pop and beer.  My brothers needed to be told when the pizza had arrived because they were immersed in the game room; however, I was only too aware.  My favorite spot at Happy Joe’s was the platform and window where you could watch the pizza being made.  I’d gaze at the pizza makers, pulling and stretching the dough and then loading it with toppings.  Then came the main event.  With the platform as my stage I’d turn to face the unsuspecting audience and regale the customers with dances from my tap class or my own homemade choreographed show.  I was 23.  I’m kidding, I’m kidding.  I was 5 or 6.

Once our pizza was ready, I’d run to the table, eager to eat my dinner…  of chips.  See, for a real tried and true taco pizza, you need crushed nacho flavored chips on top.  Think of it as the pizza version of those noodle casseroles topped with crushed potato chips.  The seventies were a marvelous time, weren’t they?  I’d start picking chips from the top of the pizza, happily crunching away, until my mom would inevitably size up the situation and tell me, “Cadry.  You can’t just eat the chips.”  It was worth a shot.  I’d settle in to a whole slice… with a few extra chips for good measure.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the state my someday-to-be husband was gobbling up taco pizza of his own.  Apparently, one time his dad even forgot his brother there in the arcade.  He came home with pizza for the family, and his mom said, “Did you forget anything?”

“No, I got the pizza,” his dad said.

“I mean your son.  Happy Joe’s called.”

What did I tell you?  That arcade was something of a Bermuda Triangle for preteen boys.

You can imagine my shock and disappointment when discovering that, in a similar fashion, on the West Coast taco pizza ceased to exist.  (I found one place between LA and Phoenix that has it, and that’s it.)  Happy Joe’s only made it as far as North Dakota and stopped.  (Did they suppose a restaurant couldn’t hope for more than a city called Grand Forks?  My sources say yes.)  In my fantasies, I imagined opening a restaurant selling taco pizza, showing the Angelenos what they were missing out on…

And then 9 years into living there I met my sooner-to-be husband, and I discovered that he too had a deep well of love for taco pizza.  That well was so deep, he actually had people in Iowa send him boxes of the taco flavored chips that were essential for the true taco pizza experience.  He had discovered in his time in LA that a SoCal chain had a similar crust to Happy Joe’s, and so in our early dating days we’d order their pizza, and then add raw chopped onions, lettuce, and taco chips.

It may come as no surprise after all of this that when we announced our engagement to my family back in Iowa, we all met up at Happy Joe’s.  In came an employee who honked her squeaky horn.  (Yes, I know.  We’re fancy.)  My family members looked at each other confused.  None of us were celebrating a birthday.  Then she said, “We have a special announcement!  Cadry and David are getting married!”  The siren sounded, and there were hugs all around, and then I realized I should have pulled David from the Skeeball game first.  (I kid, I kid.  He’s terrible at Skeeball.  He’s more of a Ms. Pac-Man guy.)  In fact, I even gave taco pizza a shout out in my wedding vows.

Then we went vegan.  And the taco pizza from Happy Joe’s with its dairy-based cheese, meat, and nacho chips were all put to the wayside.  I started making a chickpea taco pizza on a Vicolo cornmeal crust.  (You can check out the video here.)  It was and is delicious, but the chips for topping were elusive.  Nothing was quite right for the spicy, crunchy topping.  We tried blue corn chips, and they were too hard.  We tried seasoning our own tortilla chips, but the spice blend was never quite right and felt a little dusty in the mouth.  Eventually we gave up and settled to the idea of a life of chipless taco pizza.  Then, like a cilantro-fueled dream, Garden of Eatin’ came on the scene with their Pico de Gallo chips, and the chipful taco pizza was born again.  The crunch, the seasoning, it’s all right on.  (But very dangerous.  Somehow those bags have a hard time staying full in our kitchen cupboards.)


This recipe is part of my continuing series on ways to use one component of a meal for several entrees.  It utilizes spicy black beans and several cupboard and freezer staples.  If you feel like making homemade marinara and crust, go for it.  But we love this meal for something hearty, indulgent, fun and quick.  It’s an occasional treat with a lot of sentimental value.  Plus, using some premade products and leftover spicy black beans means that the whole shebang, including baking time, is done and on the table in twenty minutes.  You couldn’t drive to Happy Joe’s, park, order, and do a couple of tap numbers in that amount of time.  The only thing missing?  Those placemats with crosswords and corny jokes, but I’m working on that.  I came up with this little beauty last week.  Tell me if you think it’s up to snuff for a sheet of paper used to protect my table from splotches of pizza sauce…

“Why does the bird outside my window only sing the same one line to a song over and over?  Early bird gets the ear worm!”

No?  How about…

“What did the creamy cashew and garlic salad topping say to the refrigerator?  Close the door!  I’m dressing!”

All right.  I’ll keep working on it.


Black Bean Taco Pizza

  • ¼ cup (heaping) Spicy Black Beans
  • 1 Vicolo cornmeal crust
  • A few spoonfuls of marinara (My favorite is Trader Joe’s Organic Tomato Basil Marinara)
  • Any or all of the following toppings:  chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro, avocado, red bell pepper, olives, and crushed Garden of Eatin’ Pico de Gallo chips

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Top the cornmeal crust with marinara and spicy black beans.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove the pizza (and hot rod, if necessary) from oven and top with your preferred toppings.

Update:  For a gluten-free crust idea, check out this post from Andrea at Cook Easy Vegan.

Mango Pineapple Salsa on Black Bean-Stuffed Potatoes

Posted on by
17

Some of my favorite memories of being a touring children’s theatre performer in Los Angeles revolve around food.  The company itself was multi-cultural, and we often found ourselves in areas of town where transplants from other countries were starting their own restaurants and serving up the food of their homelands.  After all, in LA, you can find nearly every kind of cuisine from Armenian to Yugoslavian (if not Zimbabwean.)  While visiting these restaurants with the other performers in the group, there were often people in the bunch who grew up eating that cuisine.  And for that meal, it was as if they were the ambassador to traditions and foods that I was sometimes trying for the first time.  We’d talk over meals of rice and beans about their parents, their families, or the best way to fry plantains…  It gave the meals a richness and warmth that went further than whatever garnishes were planned by the restaurant.  It also created a closeness in the group because it felt like we weren’t just bonding over shared time together but also shared memories.

Now whenever I cut open a mango, I can’t help but think of one of the company members who grew up in Hawaii.  His family had a mango tree in their backyard.  I imagined him running outside to pull a mango from the tree in the same way that I’d run down the hill in the yard of my childhood home to pluck mulberries.  He’d often bring mangoes to shows, cut up in slices, to share with the rest of us.  I’d purchased mango on my own many times, but I’d never been that impressed with the flavor.  It was kind of dry and a little woody.  That is, until I tasted the mango he’d brought.  It was succulent and sweet, juicy and tender.  I asked him about why our mangoes varied so much, and he said the key was in the ripeness.  There should be a slight give when you press with the thumb, when you smell the end of the mango, it should be fragrant.  Since then I’ve learned to be patient.  I don’t refrigerate the fruit, so that it can continue to ripen.  I leave it in the fruit bowl until it’s even starting to wrinkle just a bit.  I take in a whiff of its floral aroma, press on it gently, and know that it’s ready.

In my continuing series on simple ways to use Spicy Black Beans, here’s a recipe for Mango Pineapple Salsa on Black Bean-Stuffed Potatoes.  When people think of baked potatoes, their minds often jump to cheese or sour cream.  In this case, the freshness of pineapple and mango lighten the dish and inform the spicy black beans in a way that is vibrant instead of heavy.  The bright bite of the mango can almost transport you to Hawaii or at least to a grade school auditorium, wearing wigs and costumes, telling stories to children…

Using a teaspoon, scoop out potato halves to create bowls.

Fill with Spicy Black Beans, avocado, and Mango Pineapple Salsa.

Black Bean-Stuffed Potatoes

  • Russet Potatoes
  • Spicy Black Beans
  • Extra virgin olive oil (optional)
  • Mango Pineapple Salsa
  • Avocado, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Use a fork or knife to poke five or six holes in each potato.  Wrap the potatoes with aluminum foil and bake for an hour, until a fork can easily spear it.  Refrigerate potatoes until needed and/or until cool enough to handle.  Slice potatoes in half length-wise.  Use a teaspoon to scoop out the center of each half, creating a bowl for the black beans.  (Be careful not to tear or rip apart the potato.)  Fill the potato bowls with Spicy Black Beans.  Put the potatoes on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.  If desired, rub a small amount of extra virgin olive oil on the bottom of each potato for added crispiness.  Bake potatoes with black bean mixture for 10-15 minutes, until heated through.  Remove them from the oven and top with Mango Pineapple Salsa and avocado chunks.  Serve immediately.

Mango Pineapple Salsa

Makes about 2 cups

  • 1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped small
  • 1 mango, peeled and chopped small
  • 2 heaping Tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons lime juice
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne
  • Salt, to taste

Combine ingredients in a bowl.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  Flavors will continue to meld and deepen.

Spicy Black Bean Tacos & Meatout

Posted on by
13

In celebration of Meatout today, which is the world’s largest annual grassroots diet education campaign, this series of posts is aimed at people who are ready to explore a wholesome and nonviolent diet of fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains.  According to the people at FARM, the purpose of this yearly event is to “expose the public to the joys and benefits of a plant-based diet…”  (To read more about Meatout, visit their website!)

When it comes to first forays into meatless meals, I suggest starting with something familiar, easy, and that can easily translate into leftovers.  That means less planning and preparing down the road since the bulk of the work is done.   It’s all well and good to decide to make a positive change, but it’s certainly easier when hunger hits to be able to grab a few essentials and make something that feels like your normal, everyday meal, just without the animal products.  No one wants to be left staring into the refrigerator with a stomach that is screaming “Feed me!” and wondering, “Now what do I do?”

For this series, I’ve given my recipe for Spicy Black Beans.  Over the next few posts, I’ll show you how those same black beans can play a leading part in several different and tasty meals.  In a way it’s like leftovers, but it doesn’t feel tired because it brings new flavors and textures with it in the form of different entrees.  (If you want to make all four recipes, you’ll likely need to double the batch.)

To start, these Spicy Black Beans can slip effortlessly into warmed whole wheat tortillas or corn shells.  Add all of the usual suspects – chopped romaine or kale, tomatoes, salsa, red onions, and avocado.

Spicy Black Beans

Serves 2-4

  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup red onion, chopped small
  • 1 ½ cups black beans (1 15 oz can), drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp coriander
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • 1 Tbsp lime juice
  • ¼ cup water
  • Salt, to taste

Heat skillet to a medium heat and add extra virgin olive oil to the heated pan.  Rotate pan to spread the oil and add minced garlic.  Set aside 2 Tbsp of the raw red onions to use as a topping.  Sauté remaining onions with garlic in pan until fragrant and translucent, about 3 minutes.  Add black beans, cumin, chili powder, oregano, coriander, paprika, lime juice, and water to the pan.  Use a spatula to fully combine the beans and spices.  Once it has warmed and any excess liquid has cooked off, add salt to taste and serve.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...