Recipe: Pizza Pot Pie

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 25 mins

As most of you know last night was the first night of the 2012 NFL draft. To celebrate the official start to the football season I made Pizza Pot Pies for my Fiancé and I.

What is this delicious concoction you ask? Well, it's exactly what it sounds like...a pot pie made out of pizza ingredients. Fiancé and I got the idea from watching one of our favorite FoodNetwork shows; Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives (Triple D).

But, Shannon don't you need pizza dough to make a pizza pot pie? And doesn't pizza dough have gluten in it? you ask. The answers are yes and yes. However there are ways around it. Making your own GF pizza dough is one way to get around the gluten. You can purchase mixes for it from the grocery store or you can make your own. I used the recipe for NY style pizza dough from Artofglutenfreebaking.com (bookmark this blog because you'll be going back to it again and again) to make my own crust.

To make the Pizza Pot Pies you will need:
1 small jar of pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Swiss cheese
1lb of ground meat
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 pizza dough divided into four rounds

Here is how I made the GF Pizza Pot Pies:

1) Place a cookie sheet on the top rack of the oven and preheat to 450.

2) spray 4 croquettes (or other small baking dish) with non-stick spray and line the dishes with mozzarella and Swiss cheeses. Sliced cheeses work best.

3) Brown your choice of meat in a medium or large skillet with chopped onion.

4) When meat is nearly done add garlic and green peppers.

5) When the mixture is done fill croquettes about 3/4 full with mixture.

6) Add pizza sauce to croquette and then top that with any remaining meat mixture.

7) cover each croquette with a mini pizza dough round. Make sure to press gently around the edges to seal all the goodness in.

8) Place croquettes on cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. The pizza crust should look like the bottom of a regular pizza. It's ok if it looks a little dry.

To serve:
Turn the croquettes upside down in a bowl and, with a butter knife or spatula, gently loosen the edges of the pizza crust and pull the stuffing down onto the crust and enjoy.

You can eat this in the croquette if you want to but it might be too hot to eat that way. My croquettes are cast iron and they hold heat pretty well.

As with any pizza you can use your choice of toppings (or filling in this case). I would just keep the cheese lining and pizza crust top. The rest is up to you. Get creative and then let me know what you've come up with. I'm always looking for good ideas.

Bon Appetite!