Cheeseburger Pizza with a Shiraz Cabernet

The cooking this week has not been what it should.  I would have loved to prepare things Sunday.  Instead, I made dinner for my boyfriend and I on Sunday, had it for lunch twice, but that was enough.  I still have leftovers, but I'm kinda over them.  Mostly, I've been eating out.  But when the boyfriend came over for our usual Wednesday night dinner at home date, I cooked.  I made Cheeseburger Pizza, which I adapted from one of my favorite food blogs, Emily Bites.


This is kind of a 2 step process.  Rather than using Laughing Cow, which I don't love, I made my own cheese sauce.  I'm going to list that as a separate recipe, because I ended up using only half.  The rest will go over macaroni or something tonight.

Mozzarella-Provolone Cheese Sauce
4 servings * 2 WW P+ per serving

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 c 1% milk
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 c Sargento Shredded Mozzarella & Provolone mix  (feel free to use other cheeses, I wanted a mild flavor for the pizza base, and this was awesome!)
2 tsp garlic powder

Start by melting the butter over medium heat.  Before it browns, add half of the milk and all of the  flour.  Whisk until it thickens, then add cheese.  Continue to whisk until cheese is mixed in.  It will be stringy.  Add the remaining milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly until it reaches a thinner, spreadable consistency.

Okay, so now let's put together this pizza.


Cheeseburger Pizza
6 servings * 8 WW P+ per serving


1/2 of above cheese sauce (i.e. 2 servings)
12 oz whole wheat pizza dough (I used fresh, from the refrigerated section of the grocery store)
1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup Vidalia onion, chopped
8 oz 93% lean ground beef
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
~ 1/2 Tbsp ketchup
~ 1/2 Tbsp mustard
1 scallion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I used Sargento, again.)


Preheat oven to 450*.




First, melt the butter in a pan.  When melted, add onions and cook until golden.  Add beef.  Season with garlic and Cajun seasoning.  Cook until brown, then add Worcestershire sauce.

When the beef is cooked, we need to move onto the dough.  I decided to use fresh this time because I didn't love the Boboli crust the few times I've used it.  Joke's on me.  The fresh tasted pretty similar to Boboli.  Next time I'll either have to find a really delicious dough, or just save the time and effort and use Boboli.  (I grew up in NJ, just outside NYC.  I'm verrrry particular about my pizza crust.)

Anyway, this is what the dough looked like when it came out of the bag.  I decided to set the pizza pan on the stove, and the dough on the pan, to let it warm up, for easier spreading.  Flattening it and spreading it out was still pretty tricky, so I can't imagine what it would have been like had I used it at refrigerator temp.

So, I spread the dough as best I could using a combination of my trusty rolling pin and my own two hands.  It didn't quite reach the edges of the pan, but I decided it was good enough to get to work.

Once your dough is spread on the pan (or if you're using ready-to-go crust), the fun begins.  Spread the dough with the cheese sauce.  I didn't want to thick of a base, so I went with a nice thin layer.  Then I dumped the beef on top.

Using that trusty spoon, spread the beef out to cover the cheese sauce.  (I'll admit, the rest of this may be out of order because I, um, forgot the CHEESE part of my CHEESEburger pizza.  In the end it was still delicious, so let's pretend this was done on purpose.)  Once the beef is spread out, grab your mustard and ketchup.  I went back and forth with each about 4 times.  You can do more or less based on your tastes, but I found I got a really good flavor from this.  Then top with scallions.

I criss-crossed the condiments because that's what Emily had told me to do the first time I made her pizza.  I wondered what the point of criss-crossing was, and decided it must be for looks.  Which is when I realized I'd left off the cheese and thus the pattern of the condiments didn't matter.  Eh, whatever.  Looks pretty here, right?

Then I topped it with 1/2 cup shredded cheddar and baked at 450* for about 20 minutes.  You want the cheese melted and browned and the crust golden.

And viola!  The finished product.

Would have been prettier with better lighting and the condiments on top, but whatreyagonnado?  I will tell you it tasted delicious!

Especially paired with

Because Shiraz Cabernet is delicious.  And who doesn't love little penguins?  (Plus a bargain price at the International Food Warehouse.)