Hello all over again! I've got my coffee, and am beginning to feel somewhat-human again. I've been wandering the living room in a complete daze trying to process the past few days.Thank you so much to everyone who took time out of their busy lives to come see me at the Food and Wine Festival. I had so much fun putting faces to email addresses and blogger handles.
I love how enormously huge and scary and yet how small and friendly the Internet can be all at the same time.
You are all wonderful, thank you.
Who's ready for pizza? While I was doing my year-long slow cooking challenge, I got a few cheeky comments from people who were certain that my family was missing out on eating pizza because I was preparing a slow cooker meal everyday. Since we're gluten free, we don't actually eat all that much pizza anymore anyway, but the comments still got my brain buzzing, and I wondered if I COULD make pizza in a crockpot.
I can now say: yup.
It's not the same, but it's close enough to a deep-dish style pizza to satisfy any and all pizza cravings, and it comes right out of your crockpot.
Life is good.
The Ingredients.
serves 8
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (1.5) ounce packet of spaghetti mix (if using store-bought, look out for hidden gluten. I like the McCormick brand. You can also make your own using the recipe below)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
for puffy topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour (I use Pamela's Baking Mix as my AP flour)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
20 pepperoni slices
1/2 cup sliced olives, optional
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Mix
yields 1 packet
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons green pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
The Directions.
Use a 4 quart slow cooker (if you only have a 6, that's okay, it will just cook faster. Check it after 3 hours on high.)
In a very large skillet, brown beef, onion, and garlic on the stove top. Drain fat, and add spaghetti sauce mix, oregano, tomato sauce, and water. Stir over low heat until tiny bubbles appear. Remove from heat and scoop into the slow cooker (you might want to spray it with cooking spray).
In a mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for your puffy topping: flour, milk, eggs, and cheese. Pour evenly over the top. Place pepperoni slices and olives on top of the topping.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or until the topping has turned golden brown, puffed up, and pulled away from the sides.
I have not tried to cook this yet on low. I'd check it after 6 hours (in a 4-quart, 4 hours in a 6-quart).
If you do opt to cook it on low, I'd love to hear your timing results!
The Verdict.
I was given this recipe from a good friend of mine (who is rather shy and doesn't want her name on the internet!), and was so eager to give it a try. She usually cooks it in the oven, but said that sometimes it puffs over the side of her baking dish, and makes a huge mess in the bottom of her oven.
I loved the way it worked in the crock. I didn't vent the lid at all---it puffs up beautifully and completely satisfied my family's cravings without needing to worry about gluten or tipping the delivery guy!
more pizza stuff:
pizza soup
pizza fondue
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