Mexian Inspired Pizza

Might not be all the pretty but it sure tasted good!

You know how you get up a craving sometimes but everything you mention with it sounds boring? That happened to me this morning. I wanted chorizo. Chorizo and eggs? No, sick of eggs. Chorizo and potatoes? No, can't have potatoes, and, yeah NOT dealing with baby girl. (Her favorite food so I'd have to cook a ton of them.)  Nachos? Oh, that sounds good! Crud, no corn chips. Then what did I spy with my little eye? Crust, premade. The thin pizza crust was just sitting there begging to be used up, and hey it wasn't horrible on carbs. (The refried beans made up for it though. Why not? ya can't win them all.) Pizza it is. There was a jar of smooshed maters (crushed tomatoes if you want to be technical) and plenty of cheese waiting to be grated. Canned beans out the wazoo that need to be used up and presto! A meal! Yup, Mexican-ish (but not really), pizza it is.

Mexican(ish) Pizza
(makes 3 12" pizzas)

Premade thin pizza crust (I used Golden Home Ultra Thin)
oil (or fat of any kind)
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
Mexican style chorizo (I used Cicque Beef Chorizo, 9 oz.) - use 2 for more flavor
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained (don't judge it's what I grabbed first)
onion powder
garlic powder
1/4 c. drippings (I used the beef drippings I had on hand, but any will work as will lard or even oil)
water
1 (16 oz.) block, Colby Jack cheese, shredded
1/4 (16 oz.) block, mild cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat up two cast iron skillets and preheat oven to 400°. When the skillets are hot add the oil or melt fat in both. Dump in the chorizo into the smaller one and fry it up. Once it's hot add the crushed tomatoes.

chorizo and tomatoes

 In the larger skillet dump in both cans of beans, season with onion and garlic powder. Mash them with a potato masher. Add drippings and stir. Add enough water to make it spreadable. (Sorry no picture of the beans.) Put the pizza crusts on pizza pans and layer first with the beans.

 Next add the tomato and chorizo mixture.

Top with cheese.

This is the last pizza, when I realized I needed more cheese, enter the cheddar addition.

Pop them into the oven until the cheese is melted. Pro tip, let it cool a minute or you'll blister your mouth. Not speaking from personal experience at all...cough...cough.

Oh if you can use the wired pizza pans and just line the bottom of the oven. It crisps up the bottoms nicely!

Lye Soap Lenten Reflections 2020

New York Public Library Digital Collections

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and like most parishes, the homily probably mentioned ashes a time or three. At St. Joe's (otherwise known as St. Joseph's), our priest talked about how worthless they are. In fact, if you wanted them just about anyone with a fireplace would probably let you take them and good riddance. Me, being the domestic history geek that I am, that got me to thinking about lye. To make lye you literally leach it from ashes using water. Lye, even today (though not as often) is a key ingredient in soap making. Many a Mamaw and Gran'ma used those worthless ol' ashes from the fireplace just for that purpose. Lye is powerful stuff. What we leave behind on this earth in the hearts and minds of those that knew us is even more powerful. Lye will burn your skin, cause respiratory problems and damage eyes if used carelessly, yet when you add oils and fats it becomes safe. Soap has allowed humans to combat dirt, disease, and made life safer for mankind. Now, what is left from the ashes of our lives? Well, that depends entirely on the life we lived. We have either helped or we have hurt mankind. If we followed God and ran the good race then those we leave behind will benefit. They will have learned to leach the hard times, the suffering times, with life-giving water. They will have all they need to mix the healthy fats and oils from their own lives (God's blessings) with the lessons of lye. They will make soap. In choosing not to follow God we've not given them the tools they need. They won't know, from us, how to use living water, sacramental oil, and beneficial fats to make the worthless things in life the strongest and most beneficial things. They won't know how to make soap...at least not from us.