Pizza Bake

Easy and had all the ingredients in the pantry to make it. Just something different from a plain old boring pizza. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1 med onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 15 ounce jar pizza sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano
- 1/2 C parmesan cheese
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 T oil

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Brown hamburger, sausage, onion, and bell pepper. Drain well.
- Add garlic salt and oregano, pizza sauce. Stir well.
- Grease a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella over bottom of it. Spread meat mixture over the cheese.
- In mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, flour, oil, and salt. Pour over meat in pan.
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese over batter.
-Bake 30 minutes.
Tips from a Kitchen Reality:
- I ended up using only about 1 lb of meat total.
- I didn’t use onions and peppers—replaced with mushrooms—and used a lot. (Replace with your favorite pizza toppings.)
- Didn’t use fresh oregano—replaced with a few Tbsp Italian Seasoning.
- Mine wasn’t quite done at 30 minutes—I think it baked 40 instead.

Pizza Pot Pie

I'm sure most of you are like me and that you see a recipe you like, you tear it out, and stick it somewhere... folder, recipe box, etc. This usually works for me except in the occasion where I tear out the page and find out later the recipe was continued onto another page which I didn't tear out. Oops!! So goes the story of this recipe... I was halfway into cooking when I realized my mistake and didn't have time to internet search the rest of the recipe. Oh well, I had the ingredients and step one of the directions -- so I went for it.

Below is the recipe as found on the internet this morning, Southern Living. What I did, which worked great too, and was much easier, is in the tips below that-- I did a poor job following the recipe but dinner was great nonetheless. Enjoy!

Ingredients

3/4 pound ground beef

1/4 pound mild Italian sausage

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 package sliced fresh mushrooms

1 (26-oz.) jar tomato-and-basil pasta sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon salt 1 package refrigerated pizza crust dough

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Italian five-cheese blend

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Cook ground beef and sausage in skillet until no longer pink. Drain. Reserve about 2 Tbsps of drippings for next step.

2. Sauté onion in hot drippings 2 minutes. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute or until tender. Add mushrooms, and sauté 8 to 10 minutes or until most of liquid has evaporated. Stir in beef mixture, pasta sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt. Bring to a light boil, and simmer 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, unroll dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Invert 1 (9-inch) round baking dish or pie plate onto center of dough. Cut dough around edge of baking dish, making a 9-inch circle. Remove excess dough around baking dish; cover and chill.

4. Pour beef mixture into baking dish, and sprinkle with cheese. Immediately top with dough circle. Cut an "X" in top of dough for steam to escape. Place baking dish on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.

5. Bake at 450° for 16 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

 Tips from a Kitchen of Reality

- I did not use ground beef. Instead I used more sausage and added pepperoni. I hate onions, so I left those out too. Moral of the story-- use pizza toppings to fill up the baking dish. :)

- I didn't saute anything, just cooked the meat and just mixed it all together. - I used pizza sauce instead of doctored up pasta sauce. I had it already, so I used it. It was a much smaller jar-- but I added the little bit of water I used to rinse out the jar too and the dish didn't turn out dry at all. - I cut the pizza dough to fit the top of the dish but didn't chill it or anything. No need.

- Super quick prep time just make sure you let it set for about 10 minutes before serving.... otherwise it will be soupy.

Puff Pastry Pizza

We made this pizza last night from the July Cooking Light and it was delicious!!! Now, I did some improvising so check after the recipe to see my changes. This was great!

Phyllo Pizza with Feta, Basil, and Tomatoes

Ingredients
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
10 (18 x 14–inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
Cooking spray
2 cups thinly sliced plum tomato
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl.
3. Cut phyllo sheets in half crosswise. Working with 1 phyllo sheet half at a time (cover remaining dough to keep from drying), place phyllo sheet on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat phyllo sheet with cooking spray. Repeat with 2 more layers of phyllo. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese mixture. Repeat layers 5 times, ending with 2 phyllo sheets. Coat top phyllo sheet with cooking spray; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese mixture. Pat tomato slices with a paper towel. Arrange tomato slices on top of cheese, leaving a 1-inch border. Sprinkle with onions and the remaining 6 tablespoons cheese mixture. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until golden. Sprinkle with basil leaves.

Notes: They didn't have any phyllo sheets at the grocery store so I bought puff pastry hoping it would work. Well, it was great! There are two sheets in each pack and each sheet is divided into 3 pieces. I used 2 2/3 of the box. Since I didn't use the phyllo there was no layering needing to be done so I just spread part of the cheese out on the dough, layered the tomatoes and onions, and topped it with the rest of the cheese (and added a little more mozerella for the fun of it)! I also just used a regular tomato- I don't think that matters at all. I have fresh basil and oregano in my garden now so it worked great. We also cooked the pizza a little after putting on the basil just so it would be wilted and stay on the pizza better.

We then used the last piece of puff pastry for dessert. We just sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar and baked it. It was soooo delicious! All we could think about was all the other amazing things we could do with puff pastry. Delicious and addicting!