Easy Cheeseburger Pizza

My final recipe for the project.  I found this recipe while once again perusing the Pillsbury website.  I'm looking forward to something delicious.  I hope this doesn't let me down.

 

INGREDIENTS

1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust or 1 can (11 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated thin pizza crust

1/2 lb extra-lean (at least 90%) ground beef

1 cup tomato pasta sauce

1/4 cup chopped red onion, if desired

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

1/4 cup dill pickle slices

 

DIRECTIONS

1 If using classic crust: Heat oven to 425°F. Spray or grease 12-inch pizza pan. Unroll dough on pan. Starting at center, press out dough to edge of pan. If using thin crust: Heat oven to 400°F. Spray or grease 15x10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Starting at center, press dough into 15x10-inch rectangle.

2 Meanwhile, in 8-inch skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Spread pasta sauce evenly over dough. Top with beef, onion and cheese.

3 Bake classic crust 12 to 18 minutes, bake thin crust 8 to 12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Top pizza with pickle slices. Cut into 4 servings.

Tip if using classic crust: For a crispier crust, prebake crust 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown, then add toppings; bake pizza 12 to 18 minutes.

Pillsbury

I used a thawed bread dough for my crust.  I seasoned the hamburger meat as I would if I was making hamburgers while it was cooking.  I put the sauce on the crust, then meat, then cheese, then I topped with additional meat, onion, and pickle.

How did it turn out?

This turned out pretty good.  It cooked up nicely.  It took a few bites to get used to the tangy-ness from the pickle, but once you got over it, and adjusted to the fact that it wasn't a normal tasting pizza, it wasn't half bad.  I would even call it good; you just have to get used to the initial weird factor.

What about the kids?

Walter promptly ate all of the pickles off the top of the pizza, then stalled the rest of the dinner and eventually had to be cajoled into finishing his piece.  Mara ate her whole piece by dismantling it.  She ate all of the toppings, then eventually went back to finish off the crust.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Twin Cities Dogs

I came across this on the Betty Crocker website.  It looked like a nice treat for the kids, plus it was interesting.

8	large hot dogs
1	stick (1 oz) mozzarella string cheese, cut lengthwise into 8 strips
1	stick (1 oz) Cheddar string cheese, cut lengthwise into 8 strips
1	can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
1	egg, beaten
8	wooden corn dog or wooden craft sticks
	Ketchup and mustard, if desired 1Heat oven to 375°F. Slit hot dogs to within 1/2 inch of ends; insert 1 strip of mozzarella and 1 strip of Cheddar cheese into each slit. 2Separate or cut dough into 4 rectangles (if using crescent rolls, press perforations to seal). Place 2 hot dogs crosswise down center of each rectangle. Cut 1-inch-wide strips in dough on each side of hot dogs to within 1/4 inch of hot dogs. Fold strips at an angle across hot dogs, alternating from side to side. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, cheese side up. 3Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Insert 1 stick into each hot dog. Garnish with ketchup and mustard. Betty Crocker I have no idea what the egg is for in the ingredients.  It is not mentioned in the directions, and I did not use it.  I misread the directions, so I cut two separate slits in the hot dogs for the cheese.  It worked fine.  I used kabob skewers for the sticks.

How did it turn out?

This was an interesting twist to pigs in a blanket.  It was not much different, but it was good nonetheless.  It was pretty easy to pull off, and it looks really fancy.  It might be a fun thing to serve at a birthday party or other kid occasion.

What about the kids?

The two hot dogs as one serving was too much.  Walter pulled his apart and ate one of the hot dogs.  Mara pulled hers apart and ate the cheese out of both of them, but didn't really eat much else.  She was having a difficult day today, so I'm not blaming the food.  I would suggest serving one set to two smaller kids.  

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tater Tot Casserole

Today I wanted to find a recipe that used Tater Tots.  Here's what I found.  This one got a lot of good reviews on the Cooks.com website, so I had high hopes for it.

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag tater tots
shredded cheese
1 lb of ground hamburger meat
serves: 6 or 7

Brown hamburger meat. Add cream of mushroom soup and stir together continuously. Let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

Place mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay tater tots neatly on top of the mixture.
Place in oven on 350' and let the tater tots brown.
Sprinkle with cheese; melt it in the oven and ENJOY.

Submitted by: Danielle Watson

Cooks.com

I used cream of celery soup instead of mushroom. 

How did it turn out?

I thought it was delicious.  It clearly doesn't fit with my "lower calorie" goal for the week, but it was very tasty.  It's definitely not a combination I would have come up with on my own.

What about the kids?

Mara loved it.  She scarffed down two helpings very quickly.  Walter claimed not to like it and had to be foreced to eat a required amount of bites before he could leave the table.  Lately he says he only likes pizza, hot dogs, and lots of treats.  I guess this didn't fit any of those categories.

Rating: 4 out of 5

One Pot Dinner

I set out today to find a recipe that would use a lot of beans because we have a lot of them for some reason.  I remembered my mom making something like this when I was younger, so I headed to the trusty AAL cookbook and came across this recipe.

I did not have liquid smoke or white vinegar, so I put in some thick Worcester sauce in place of them.  The rest of the recipe I followed as written.

How did it turn out?

Fabulous!  This is a great recipe.  It was tangy, sort of like sloppy joes.  Josh called it a sweet chili.  We all loved it.  It also smelled really good throughout the day as it simmered in the crock pot.

What about the kids?

Mara gobbled hers up right away.  Walter took a little more coaxing, but ate all of his too.  Later, when they asked for a snack, I got it out again.  Mara ate a ton!  Walter said that we should have this again sometime.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Hot Dog Gravy

I found this recipe in the MOPS cookbook I was flipping through on the first day of this project (see the first day's post).  I was drawn to it, honestly, because it was weird and, frankly, sounded disgusting.  But, someone liked it enough to submit it for a cookbook, so I figured there had to be something to it.

I used 6 Jennie O Turkey hot dogs.  I think I used less water than a cup, so my gravy turned out a bit thicker than it is probably supposed to.  I followed the rest of the recipe as written including the cornbread.

How did it turn out?

Eh!  It wasn't disgusting, but it wasn't good either.  It was similar to country gravy for breakfast, but with a different consistency because of the hot dog.  I could eat it, but I wouldn't make it again.

What about the kids?

Neither of them would even take a bite.  They both went to their nap without eating lunch.  Mara did wake up after nap wanting a snack, and so she finished hers off then. (eating it cold would not be my ideal for this dish...)

Rating: 2 out of 5

Quick Creamy Chicken & Noodles

I found this recipe on the back of a can of cream of chicken and mushroom soup.  I had never even heard of that soup, but we had apparently bought it at our cheap dented can store, so we had some.  It sounded pretty good, but mostly it sounded easy and I had all of the ingredients for it on hand.

Campbells

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey

3 cups medium egg noodles, cooked and drained

Chopped fresh parsley

• Heat the soup, milk, black pepper, cheese, chicken and noodles in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat until the mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with the parsley before serving.

I had a box of Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta, so I started with that.  I also had two fairly large chicken breasts that needed to be cooked, so I cubed those up.  As I cooked the noodles and cubed the chicken, I realized that both would be way more than the recipe called for and that I would need more cream sauce for all of it.  So I exchanged the one can of cream of chicken and mushroom soup, for one can each of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup.  I also used 1 cup of milk instead of a half cup.  I did not have parsley, so I left that off.  I did not use the Parmesan cheese, and the reason for that is simply I forgot until now that it was in the recipe.

How did it turn out?

This was delicious!  It was really creamy.  It was very quick to make, and easy because all of these ingredients are things that I normally have on hand.  Both Josh and I enjoyed second helpings.

What about the kids?

They both told me it was good, but they'd been snacking so they didn't eat much of it at lunch.  Later when they came asking for afternoon snacks, I made them finish their pasta first, and they both did without complaining.  Apparently this is fine served cold as well.  :0)

Rating: 4 out of 5