Taco Pizza

Tonia and I decided to honor weekend food by each posting a favorite pizza recipe.  I've been adjusting the recipe for my Taco Pizza for about 2 years and I've finally got it the way I want it.  It is an excellent way to celebrate the flavor of Mexico with the delivery of an Italian pizza.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Pizza crust (see crust notes below)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can refried beans
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles (such as Rotel)
• 1 small can sliced black olives
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 1 tsp taco seasoning
• 1 cup favorite cheese, shredded
• Handfull finely chopped cilantro

Directions

1. Prepare crust however necessary, depending on the type you choose.  This will probably involve preheating the oven.
2. In skillet, brown meat with onion
3. Drain fat from meat mixture
4. To meat mixture, add tomatoes, taco seasoning, and olives.  Cook until heated through
5. Spread refried beans on pizza crust.  They will serve as the "pizza sauce".  To make them easier to spread, heat them in a small saucepan first.
6. Spread the meat mixture over the refried beans
7. Bake as directed by crust instructions.
8. Sprinkle on cheese and cilantro for the final 5 minutes of baking
9. Serve, if desired, with salsa and sour cream

We love it so much we dove in before getting the picture!  Oops!

A note on crusts.  There are various ways to handle the crust.  Below are three:

1. Dry Store-Bought Crust: This is the stuff that comes looking like pizza crust, such as Boboli.  This is the easiest but, as you may imagine, it's taste is fine but nothing to write home about.  But it works!
2. Wet Store-Bought Crust:  This is the stuff that comes as moist dough in a tube such as Pillsbury.  I've had lots of instances with this where the exposed crust on the outside was done but the heat didn't quite bake the bottom well enough.  The solution to this is to throw the crust in by itself for 5 minutes alone before adding the toppings and completing the baking process.  I find the taste of this crust to be very good.
3. Homemade: I've only tried this on one occasion.  I used this recipe and LOVED IT!  Same with the wet store-bought crust above, I baked it for about 5 minutes before topping it with anything, then baked it with everything on it for the remaining time.