Deep Dish Pizza Casserole

Mmmmm....doesn't that look good?  I got this recipe from WW 5 ingredient 15 minute cookbook.  Of course as usual, I changed it just a little.  Can I leave any recipe as is???  I also made the meat mixture over the weekend, so I just had to unroll the dough top it with the meat and pop it into the oven when I got home from work. Dinner was ready in 20 minutes. 

Deep Dish Pizza Casserole
1 lb ground beef or turkey
15 oz can chunky Italian style tomato sauce
10 oz can refrigerated pizza crust dough (ours was 13 oz)
1 c preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I used 1/2 c fat free and 1/2 c low fat)
17 pieces turkey pepperoni chopped into small pieces (so it incorporates into the whole thing)
1/4 c orange puree (optional)
Any other pizza toppings you like, olives, peppers, etc.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cook meat in a non-stick skillet until browned and crumbled.  Add tomato sauce, orange puree, and pepperoni.  Cook until heated through.
Coat a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray.  Unroll pizza dough and press into bottom and halfway up the sides of baking dish.  Top bottom of pizza crust with meat mixture.  Add cheese.
Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 12 - 18 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese is melted.  Cook 5 minutes before serving. 

Brian and I both gave this 4 stars.  We cut this into 8 pieces and each piece is 5.5 points.  I personally thinks this is too much meat, but I'm not the best person to listen to regarding that!  Next time I will probably only use 3/4 lb meat, which would also drop the points just a bit. 

Pizza Turnovers

Allison has gymnastics on Wednesdays, so dinner has to be ready quickly so we aren't super rushed to eat it.  Tomorrow we are having pizza turnovers, and they reheat well, so I made them tonight instead.  For those of you who like to do most of the prep work on the weekends like myself, this is one that can be mostly made ahead of time too. 

I cut one of mine open so you could get a glimpse into the inside, rather than taking a picture of just the doughy pizza pocket. 

We love these!  Brian gave it 4 stars, I give this 4 1/2.  You can adjust this recipe to go along with whatever your pizza preferences are.  Mr. No Veggies just eats it with cheese and meat, I myself put diced peppers and usually black olives in mine (didn't have any olives this time).

6 oz mild Italian turkey sausage, removed from the casings (I use 2 1/2 Turkey Store sweet italian sausages)

3/4 c pizza sauce

8 pieces turkey pepperoni, diced

1/4 small onion, minced (or use the dried onion flakes...even easier!)

3/4 c fat free shredded mozzarella cheese

1 package (13.8 oz) refrigerated pizza dough (I use the canned pillsbury pizza crust)

Any other desired pizza toppings that you want to put in it!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Cook sausage and onion in skillet until browned, stirring to break up meat into little pieces.  Stir in pepperoni and pizza sauce.  (STOP here if making ahead of time)

Unroll pizza dough and pat into a large rectangle.  Cut into 6 squares.  Put 1/8 c shredded cheese on each square.  Divide sausage mixture evenly among squares. 

Fold over dough to make a triangle (yeah whatever!  I fold mine in half to make a rectangle and pinch the edges closed.  Do what works for you!)  Press edges together to seal. 

Transfer to baking sheet (or just do it all right on the cookie sheet like I do so you have one less thing to clean)

Bake 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. 

This makes 6 pizza turnovers and are just under 6 points each.