Crock Pot "Pizza"

Hi everybody! Tonight I tried a new recipe. I read a few food blogs, and this was on a blog that I've had success with before. I thought it was interesting, and not too casserole-y. Dylan isn't a big fan of casseroles, so I don't make them too often.

It's supposed to cook for 5 hours on low (3 hours on high), but I just never seem to get my life together in the morning to have the crock pot going before we walk out the door. I'm much more of an evening person than a morning person- at least when it comes to energy and motivation. So I only cooked this for an hour and a half. The onions and peppers were still very crunchy. I actually like crunchy veggies, so I am not complaining. I think it gives it more pizza authenticity. Mushrooms would be awesome in this, too, if you can get your family to eat them.

I give this two-thumbs up. It really does have the flavor of pizza. I used whole wheat penne pasta, because that's all I had.

Crock Pot Pizza


1lb. ground beef, turkey, or Italian sausage
1 box of penne or ziti pasta (the box I used was a little over 13oz)
2 jars of pizza sauce (I had Ragu- they were 8oz jars)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup of sliced mushrooms (optional- or you could use a small can of mushrooms)
1 package of pepperoni slices
2 cups of mozzerella or pizza blend cheese
Parmesan cheese for topping.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, but leave it a little firm. Drain and dump into the crock pot. Crumble the meat and cook over medium until the meat is no longer pink. Drain and dump into the crock pot. Chop the onion and green pepper. Dump into the crock pot (notice a theme going here?). Dump in the pepperoni and the pizza sauce. Stir everything up, and add the cheese to the top.
Cover, and set the crock pot for 5 hours on low.

We had ours with some garlic bread I had in the freezer. It was good, and I'll definitely make this again.