The Best Taco Pizza of 2011

I've been having really bad luck lately when it comes to preparing meals. I'll think of something to make, but then come to find out that I'm missing like - half of the ingredients. Over the weekend, I was going to make spaghetti and meatballs (having just watched Bobby Flay's Throwdown), but I didn't have any spaghetti. Then, I decided to make Swedish meatballs, because I knew I had one of those seasoning packets for it. So I have the meat in the bowl along with the breadcrumbs, open the packet (that says SWEDISH MEATBALLS).  The inside of the packet says TACO SEASONING. What the!?!? Great. Now I HAVE to make them from scratch. They ended up tasting very good, but I ended up working myself harder that day than originally planned. Hmph.

So I get home from work and have no idea what to make. We're all starving (my husband, house-mate and I) and we just want something to eat now. Fortunately, we had pizza crust. So we were off to a good start. We start shouting out ideas that might sound good on pizza crust - and this is what we came up with. The best darn taco pizza you'll ever have. Seriously. It's that good. And for all of you mommas out there - it's fun for the kids too!  

Here's how it's done:

123 Taco Pizza

4 T yellow cornmeal

1 roll of Pillsbury pizza crust, regular or deep dish

2 T olive oil

1 jar mild salsa

1/2 can refried beans

1/4 packet taco seasoning

3/4 lb ground beef

4 T chopped red onion

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. chopped lettuce

2 handfuls of broken chips (we had Tostitos new Olive/Artisan chips)

sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*F

In a fry pan, brown hamburger along with the taco seasoning. I just sprinkle the seasoning over the beef as it's browning.

On a large cookie sheet, sprinkle yellow cornmeal evenly.  Spread out the pizza crust on the pan as evenly as possible. Drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven.  Bake for about 8 minutes.

In the mean time, chop up the vegetables, set aside. Spread out all measured ingredients on the counter so you're ready for action.

When the pizza crust is ready (just ever-so-slightly browned) take out of the oven and place on a hot pad near your ingredients.  Spread the refried beans first, followed by the salsa, browned beef, than the onions.  Cover the entire pizza with the cheddar cheese, than place back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Once the cheese is fully melted, turn on your oven broiler and heat up the pizza until the cheese starts to bubble (I love watching cheese bubble up).  Take out of the oven and place back on the hot pad on your counter.

Toss the lettuce evenly over your pizza and finish it off with the broken-up chips. Cut out even squares and dollop a Daisy.

*The refried beans add this crazy texture that you don't typically expect from a taco pizza. It's also good when dipped in Ranch dressing.