Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Slow-Cooker Pizza

It feels like it has been forever since I last posted food.
Today is that lovely Wednesday.
Week half done.
Day of the week when I have the morning off.
That means that laundry spins, school work gets done, and the mail pile gets sorted ....
all in my pajamas.
Love it.
Today it also meant that dinner made it into the crockpot before I left for work.

This recipe doesn't work well for 8 hours in the crockpot.
It doesn't work at all. I've tried it. I know.
When the recipe says 3 to 4 hours, it means it.
So if you have a busy afternoon and can get it cooking about noonish ....
it is perfect.
Go shopping, take a nap, or go to work for a while if you're like me.

Gather your wonderful ingredients which I'll list at the end.
The recipe calls for 1/2 box of rigatoni cooked.
That is actually the hardest part of this whole experience,
unless your ground beef or sausage isn't already browned and in the freezer.


While your pasta is cooking, cut up a green pepper and an onion.


Assemble the concoction by layering everything in the crockpot,or slow-cooker, as directed.
(I ran out of cheddar cheese so it became heavy on the mozzarella.)


Turn the crockpot on low.

 
Go get your hair done. Read a book.
Get your hair done while reading a book.
Whatever your little heart desires.
3 to 4 hours later, although it ended up being 5 hours over here,
grab your plate and start piling it on!
There really should be a salad or vegies on this plate.
I was too hungry to take another minute to wrestle up something green.


For your cooking pleasure, compliments of the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook:

Slow-Cooker Pizza

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or bulk Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
7-oz jar sliced mushrooms, drained  (I skip these.)
3 oz sliced pepperoni
16-oz jar pizza sauce (I added a wee bit more spaghetti sauce to the mix.)
10 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
10 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Brown ground beef and onions in saucepan. Drain. My ground beef was already browned with onions. I still added another onion to the crockpot when I layered everything.
Layer half of each of the following, in the order given, in slow cooker: ground beef and onions, green pepper, noodles, mushrooms, pepperoni, pizza sauce, cheddar cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers.
Cover. Cook on Low 3-4 hours.

Note: Keep rigatoni covered with sauce so they don't become dry and crunchy.

Recipe variation: Add a 10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup to the mix, putting half of it in as a layer after the first time the noodles appear, and the other half after the second layer of noodles.

Anita's variation idea: Make this with chicken and alfredo sauce. The thought makes my mouth water!

1 comment: