Vegetable Meatza Pie - Week 9 Bonus Pie

Meatza = traditional pizza crust is replaced with a crust of ground meat and topped with pizza toppings

This dish was inspired by Ginny's Low Carb kitchen's blog where she had some leftover salad that she made into a pizza. I modified the recipe into something that could easily work in anyone' s kitchen.; so I didn't use her leftover salad recipe even though I'm sure it is delicious.  I was fascinated with idea of using meat instead of a traditional crust. All you do is press a pound of hamburger in a pie plate and bake it before you put your toppings on.

While it is baking, you can start chopping up your fresh veggies for your toppings. The asparagus in the stores has been great this season; so I thought this was another great way to eat it. I've also fallen in love with the multi-colored mini sweet peppers that are sold in the stores by the bag. I've put them in salads. fajitas, soup, and now this; they are very versatile. 

It does seem like the recipe requires some unusually small amounts of specific ingredient like the bacon, marinara sauce and asparagus. But, I plan on using the leftover quantities during my weekly menu. I think there are many things that could be substituted to make it your own. 

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. seasoned salt
1/4 cup marinara
3 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 t. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup chopped peppers
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 t. garlic powder
5 stalks asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup Italian cheese



Directions:
Press ground beef into round circle in pie plate. Sprinkle ½ t. garlic powder and ½ t. seasoned salt. Bake 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees, or until meat is done. Drain grease. In skillet, saute onions, peppers in olive oil until tender. Add seasonings and asparagus and cook another 5 minutes. Spread marinara sauce over cooked ground beef. Top with ½ cup of Italian cheese, bacon and then vegetables. Place another ½ cup of Italian cheese on top. Broil until cheese is browned.

I would recommend a tossed salad to accompany this to make a complete meal. We thought it was great! I will definitely try this again; and mix it up a little by trying some different toppings next time. And in all actuality, it went together quickly in under half an hour so this is definitely a great addition for my "fridge to table in minutes" recipe box.