Pizza in a Pot

I just love my crockpot! It's funny, because I tend to go in spurts--I'll use it several times in a row and then I forget about it for a while, only to wonder why I don't use it more regularly?!? This is an extremely easy recipe to throw together and quite frankly, I think it could be considered a quick weeknight meal. They say to cook it on low for 3-4 hours until it's heated through, but everything is already cooked before you even put it in the crockpot, so you could easily just set it on high for an hour or so and I would imagine it would produce the same result! One thing that I can't stress enough is to make sure you add some seasoning to the beef, veggie and sauce mixture before adding it to the crockpot. I ended up stirring in some garlic salt at the end, because I thought it was really bland. It definitely need salt of some type and had I not been in such a rush to throw it together, it probably would have dawned on me that the recipe itself didn't call for any seasoning!

Pizza in a Pot

1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 jar (14 ounces) pizza sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound spiral pasta, cooked and drained
2 packages (3-1/2 ounces each) sliced pepperoni
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook the beef, green pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomato sauce, pizza sauce and tomato paste.

In a 5-qt. slow cooker, layer the pasta, beef mixture, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through. ***If you'd like, substitute 1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage for the pepperoni in Pizza in a Pot. Cook it along with the ground beef, green pepper and onion.***

***Make sure to add some form of salt :)***