Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole

Question: What do you get when a 10 year old boy crashes his bike going over 20 mph downhill?  

Answer: A trip to the ER with 2 broken arms, an overnight stay, surgery (with thankfully no pins) and above the elbow casts for the next 2 weeks. 

Question: What do you get when you have two daughters taking ballet classes from their amazing Aunt Anna?

Answer: A beautiful program/recital on a big stage and flowers afterwards.

Question: What do you get when you talk grandparents into taking their first Selfie?

Answer: Cute!!

Question: What do you get when the other grandparents agree to watch your 5 kids so you can take a long-awaited get-away vacation (the first since your honeymoon 13 years ago!)?

Answer:  One of the best weeks ever. Pura Vida - Costa Rica!!!  Visiting with relatives, rappelling down waterfalls, white water rafting, viewing volcanoes, soaking in natural hot springs, ziplines over the rainforest, wildlife tours, horseback ride to a waterfall, we packed a lot into a week. 

Question: And what do you get when you combine sloppy joes with pizza?

Answer: A dinner that Grant says is one of his favorite things EVER.  No kidding. He couldn't stop talking about how much he loved this meal.  And really - we all agreed.  It's so delicious!! 

You have a super simple pizza dough, a flavorful and meaty filling, and lots of cheese on top.  

It's like a deep dish pizza that you can just dig right into and serve up hearty slabs.  Eat with a fork or your fingers, whatever you please. We don't mind! 

The only problem with this recipe?

  

One dish of it doesn't make enough for us to have two dinners of it.  Everyone liked it so much, they kept going back for more.  So my plans of having leftovers for dinner kind of went out the window. Guess I'll make another one. :) 

Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole

Dough:

1 Tbsp. instant yeast

1 cup very warm water

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cups flour (I use white whole wheat)

Filling: 

1 pound lean ground turkey

1 Tbsp. dried minced onion

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. Montreal Steak seasoning

1 large carrot, grated

1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 tsp. dried mustard powder

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Begin by preparing pizza dough. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast with warm water and sugar.  Allow to foam for a few minutes. Add salt, oil, and flour.  Stir until a dough forms.  Knead by hand or with a dough hook on the mixer for 5-6 minutes.  Cover and set aside. 

In a large saucepan or skillet, brown ground turkey with minced onion, garlic, and steak seasoning. Drain grease if necessary.  Add the carrot and chopped bell pepper and saute a few minutes longer, until veggies are beginning to get tender.  Add tomato sauce, mustard powder, ketchup, vinegar, and brown sugar.  Simmer for 5-7 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Preheat oven to 420°F.  In a lightly greased 13 x 9" pan, spread out pizza dough, coming up the sides about an inch to create a little crust.  Pour filling over the dough and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. 

Source: adapted slightly from Finding Joy in my Kitchen