Easy Vegetarian Taco Pizza

For tonight's supper, I combined two of our favorites, Taco Night and Pizza Night, into Taco Pizza Night. Not only was in insanely cheap, but it was really delicious and will most definitely be making an appearance again soon!

When I make a taco pizza, I completely cook the crust before adding any toppings. I abhor melted cheese on my taco pizza, so that is always the very last ingredient I top the pizza with. Speaking of cheese, I prefer to buy organic cheese in chunks and then grate it myself. Once nice result of that is that even though I use the same dry measurement as I would with an already shredded cheese, I really end up using less cheese by weight since when I grate it myself, they are lighter, thinner shreds that tend to curl and aren't as tightly packed as the already shredded stuff.

I am really trying to move away from commercially-canned products as much as possible, so I rely on dried beans quite a bit. Yes, they can take awhile to cook compared to merely opening a can, so on days I have extra time, I cook up a large batch and freeze them in about 1 1/2 to 2 cup portions for those days I might not have as much time.



Easy Vegetarian Taco Pizza

1 14" pizza crust (try my 100% whole wheat pizza crust)
1 cup dried black beans, prepared according to pkg directions
1/3 cup water
2 cups spinach, kale or lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional for garnish: sour cream, taco sauce, crushed tortilla chips


Step 1: Bake pizza crust for complete recommended baking time with no toppings on it.

Step 2:  Heat beans and water in a saucepan over medium high heat. As water heats up, mash beans until smooth. Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper and garlic, stir until well combined and remove from heat.

Step 3: Spread bean mixture over pizza crust and cut pizza into desired number of slices. Top with spinach/lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and  any other desired garnishes.

It might not look like much bean mixture in the saucepan , but it covers my 14" crust perfectly!

Cost:

Pizza crust (homemade): $1.04

Black beans: $1.99/1-lb bag, used 1/3 = $.66

Tomatoes: Garden Freebie

Onion: Garden Freebie

Garlic: Garden Freebie
Spinach and Kale: Garden Freebies

Cheese (organic): $3.49/8 oz pkg, used 1/6 = $.58

Total Cost: $2.28

Eight slices: $.29 per slice