Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

I actually happened to have all these ingredients on hand and decided to try Pepperoni Pizza Casserole for dinner last night. It was so good! We really like pizza in this house and this was a different take on regular pizza, using noodles for the "crust". It makes a good amount so we had lots of leftovers for lunch today. It smells like pizza, kind of looks like pizza and tastes like pizza. What a great comfort food!

Pepperoni Pizza Casserole From Sparks from the Fire

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or bulk sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 lb pepperoni, sliced
8 oz. mushrooms and juice
4-6 oz noodles, cooked
10 1/4 oz can pizza sauce
1 can tomato soup
1/2 can of water

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brown meat; drain. Add onion, salt, pepper and mushrooms. Simmer 3 min. Combine pizza sauce, tomato soup, water and green pepper in separate bowl. Put 1/2 the noodles on the bottom of a greased 2 qt casserole dish. Top with 1/2 the sauce mixture, then 1/2 the meat mixture and half the cheese. Put a layer of pepperoni on top of cheese; repeat layers. Bake for 45 minutes.

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

My zucchini plants are really starting to produce finally. I think they were all dead by this time last year, but I'm glad we're finally able to enjoy that delicious summer squash! I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website and it was really good. Ryan said he never would have guessed that the "crust" is actually zucchini!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

4 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) Italian tomato sauce
1 medium green pepper, chopped

Place zucchini in strainer; sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 10 minutes. Squeeze out moisture. Combine zucchini with the eggs, Parmesan and half of the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Press into greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add tomato sauce; spoon over zucchini mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; add green pepper. Bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through.

Homemade Pizza

Ryan and I love homemade pizza. I made the dough usually and the crust and it goes pretty quickly since I have a bread maker. It is nice to be able to put whatever toppings on that you like and it is an easy way to use up some leftover fresh veggies such as green peppers and onions. I love to add olives too--yum!

Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough from www.momadvice.com

1 1/3 c water
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
2 T cornmeal
3 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine, according to manufacturer's settings, and run dough setting. After the machine beeps, roll out the dough. You can roll the dough into 2 9x13" pizzas or into 2 medium pizzas or a large pizza and an order of breadsticks or cheesesticks. Parbake the crust with a drizzle of olive oil on it at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove the crust and add sauce and toppings. If making breadsticks, add your breadsticks at this time. Place into the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Exquisite Pizza Sauce from www.momadvice.com

1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
6 oz warm water
3 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T minced garlic
2 T honey
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried majoram
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients in order listed above making sure to break up any clumps of cheese. Cover the sauce and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Spread sauce over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.