Pizza Casserole

I love a good pizza, but I can never make them well myself. Whenever I do venture into the Land of DIY Pizza, it's always a Boboli crust with ricotta, mozzarella, basil, and tomato slices. I mean, that's good and all, but there's nothing WOW about it. Nothing can take the place of either my grandmother's pizza or a good gooey slice from our local pizzaria.

When doing it at home, however, this is a pretty good substitute. I saw it on Brooke's blog not too long ago and starred it right away for future use, and last night I decided to go for it. It was so easy and it tasted great. I always seem to be wary of a recipe that doesn't call for any spices or herbs, but I guess I need to learn how to trust the food! This was fabulous, and while it's probably not the most figure-friendly dish out there, it's a wonderful quick weeknight recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of extra lean ground beef
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Package of mushrooms
• 1 jar of tomato sauce
  
• Spray of Pam
• 1 10 oz can refrigerated pizza dough
• 6 oz of part skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 425. In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook onion, garlic until softened, add meat stirring until it's browned. Drain, if necessary, and return to skillet.

Add mushrooms and tomato sauce, and cook until heated through and most of the sauce has been absorbed (you want your meat mixture more on the dry side then the saucy side).

While meat cooks, coat a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll pizza crust dough, and press into bottom and halfway up sides of the baking dish. Pre-bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, then add a layer of cheese, then a layer of the meat mixture, then top with a layer of cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 425° for 12 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese melts. Cool 5 minutes before serving.