Crustless Pizza Casserole

You know what’s really empowering, Foodies?

Making something the way you like it, just because that’s how you  like it. Not the way the kids like it or your spouse likes it, but just the way you want it.

I had an epiphany recently. I’ve spent a lot of my post-op career catering to everyone’s preferences in my crusade to get my kids and family to eat healthier. In the process I did several things:

  1. I stopped even thinking about what I like the best and why.
  2. I put my children under the delusion that they live in a 24-hour diner, complete with a short-order cook.
  3. I got a case of “food burn-out.”

What’s food burn-out? You all have experienced it, I’m sure. It’s when you just get tired of thinking about, prepping, and cooking food. So you don’t. Instead you eat things that are convenient (and sometimes not healthy). Or worse, you fall back on take-out a lot.

As for me, I fell back on my default foods (stuff I could eat anytime like cottage cheese and Greek yogurt) and let the kids go crazy with take-out. Bad mom!

What I’ve learned from this is that even when it comes to cooking my needs are important too. So I vow to make more meals the way I like them!

Which is what brings us to this pizza casserole. There are several reasons why my daughters probably won’t touch it. For Diva, the Elder, it contains three vegetables that are on her “no fly” list (I’ve tried to get her to embrace more veggies…she’s 16 so at this point trickery doesn’t work anymore!). For Diva, the Younger,  (13) she  now eats a pescetarian diet and so the ground meat is no-go. But me? I love it! So here goes.

No need to let this casserole cool. The ooey-gooey factor is part of the joy of it!

Crustless Pizza Casserole
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Crustless Pizza Casserole
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Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Set a skillet over medium-high heat and let it get hot (2-3 minutes) before adding nonstick cooking spray (or 1 tbsp. of oil if you like that better). Add veggies and saute for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add garlic and saute an additional minute or so.
  3. Add the ground meat, breaking it up with a spatula and mixing in the vegetables. Cook until meat is done through. Drain meat of any excess fluid with a colander.
  4. Turn stove heat to medium-low and add sauce, stirring to fully combine. Simmer about 5-7 minutes or until sauce turns a deeper shade of red. Your mixture should be saucy but not soupy. Ultimately the veggies will continue releasing water as they cook so you don't want your sauce to have too much liquid. If there seems to be a lot, drain some of it off before doing the next step.
  5. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish (this is an 8 x 8) and spread to make sure it's an even layer. Now comes the fun part. Toppings! I love pepperoni and black olives on pizza so that's what I topped mine with, along with the shredded cheese
  6. I baked mine for about 20 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt, brown just a bit and for the pepperonis to become slightly crispy. Technically it's ready when the cheese is melted so let it go as long as you want until it's the way you like it!
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13 comments

  1. Tracey@bariatricfoodforlife.com

    I totally agreed about food burn out. I'm 5 months post op from VSG and I'm sick of eating, prepping food that I get 6 bites of, shopping for food that I get 6 bites of and then gagging down vitamins that I hate. Just having a little pity party :-(. This looks great and would be good as lunch all week long too. Thanks, Tracey

  2. I have also experienced food burn-out. I prep my meals on Sunday and I have decided I need to add more variation to my chicken and vegetables meals. Thanks for sharing this great recipe for pizza casserole! Looking forward to trying it.

  3. Ahhhh yes, the joys of picky eaters. I once told my 12 yr old nephew (who outgrew picky thank goodness), that he better hope nothing ever happened to his mom because he'd starve living with me, lol. Food burn out sucks. I find cruising blogs helps, especially when I can use Pinterest to keep track of the ones I want to try without sorting through the can't or don't ones to find them again.

  4. I made this today turned out great <3

  5. Making this right now. OMG my kitchen smells divine 🙂

  6. I am totally making this tonight!! I might add a little ricotta cheese too!!! Thanks for the recipe!!

  7. I made this a few nights ago and am still eating off of it. I love it! My friend who was in town and my hubby both loved it, too! Big hit!!!! I left out the zucchini because I’m not a fan, but it was perfect with just the onions and yellow peppers.

  8. This sounds wonderful! I’m going good to try it and hope for the best. Even 3 yrs out I have issues eating anything greasy or fatty so cheese tends to get me. Maybe I will only use half the amount to see how it goes.

  9. Don’t see any nutrition info on this but I suppose if I plug it into my fitness pal it will spit out the info. Sure looks good. I’m only going into week 3 so I am not “food ready” yet but have been finding so many great recipes on here. Thank you so much!

    • Hi Lisa. You got that exactly right! We don’t provide nutrition info. Instead we put together yummy recipes and encourage you to plug in the info based on what you actually use. Play with your food – and enjoy!

  10. Fahamesha Cephas

    Which stage of diet is this recipe ?

    • Great question but it’s one for your dietitian as different programs have different rules. Show the recipe to him or her and see what they think!

  11. Nik, Thank you for the comments with this recipe! although older for you, the comments and my resulting life were right on the money for me!! I appreciate your site and your experiences more than I can express!

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