Do you ever cut recipes out of magazines with the intent on making it “soon” and then never get around to it? Well, I do…a lot. I finally took a few minutes and went through my recipe file to do a little purging. I threw away several of them because I knew I would never make them, but I found a few keepers in the bunch. Back in 2005, (I told you these were old) I had copied a recipe out of a Southern Living magazine that caught my eye then. When I found it again recently, it still looked good to me so I gave it a try. This would make a great family dinner with a salad on the side. That is how I fixed it, and we had plenty for leftovers the next night. In fact, it was really too big for the two of us but I think it would be easy to scale down.
2 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped (The original recipe called for 2 whole onions chopped, but that was way too much for me.)
1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers
3 tsp Italian seasoning, divided
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 jar tomato and basil pasta sauce (I used Paul Newman’s 24 oz marinara.)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can refrigerated pizza crust
1 tbsp olive oil
Cook the ground beef, onion, peppers, and 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef is no longer pink.
Add the flour, stirring until blended. Stir in the pasta sauce. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
Spoon the meat mixture into a lightly greased 13×9” baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the mozzarella cheese.
Unroll the pizza crust and place it on top of the cheese. Tuck the edges into the baking dish if necessary. Brush the crust with olive oil and sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of Italian seasoning on top.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Picture Perfect Cooking 