Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pinto Bean Pizza (Mexican Pizza)



Last night was bowling night at my house.  Remember when that meant Girls Night?  When we used to make fun things like Homemade Stirfry or Kinda Empanadas?  Well, since the girls have left the nest, I was home alone for bowling night.  But, I had a plan!  I wanted to get some laundry done, build a fire in the woodstove and kick back with a little TV.  But, what to have for supper?  For one person?  Hmmmm... Since I've been really trying to eat out of the pantry and not go to the store OR eat out, I knew I wanted to find something to make that I already had the ingredients for.  And, since I was the only one eating it could be a recipe that I wanted to try but wasn't sure how safe it would be.  


I found a great recipe over at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.  Lynn ALWAYS makes good stuff! I can always depend on her recipes to be sure fire!  


A side note here, I have discovered that I tend to be a "recipe free" cook.  I really have a hard time giving recipes away for the stuff I cook everyday.  Another blogger mentioned that and I had an "a-ha moment!"  That's me!  No wonder my recipes seem rambling.  Usually I'm just telling you how I do it.


But, I'll give you Lynn's actual recipe and also how I tweaked it for a small pizza with what I had in my pantry and my preferences.


Here's Lynn's recipe:


Black Bean Pizza (Lynn's Kitchen Adventures)

  • pizza crust, unbaked
  • 1 can green chilies
  • 2 cups black beans
  • 1 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes, partially drained (drain off 1/2 juice)
  • black olives
  • 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
  • 2-3 cups mexican cheese, cheddar, or a mix of cheddar and jack (whatever you like.
Mix taco seasoning and tomatoes.  Spread on the crust.  Sprinkle with green chilies, black beans, olives, and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until done.

Now, of course, I had to change it.  Here's what I used.
  • pizza crust, unbaked (this recipe is what I used - I had this dough in the fridge).
  • 1/4 cup salsa (instead of the green chilies because I didn't have green chilies)
  • 2 cups pinto beans (I prefer pintos to black beans and keep small servings of homemade cooked dried pinto beans in my freezer in small containers)  (I just scooped some up with a slotted spoon and spread them on.)
  • 1 teaspoon taco seasoning (I thought 1 Tablespoon would be too much / a little chili powder would also work here)
  • 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (since I was making a SMALL pizza)
I pulled off a hunk of my dough, sprayed my cookie sheet with cooking spray and sprinkled with cornmeal. I rolled / pressed my crust to a decent shape.  Then, I mixed the tomatoes and taco seasoning in a little bowl, & spread that on the unbaked crust.  (I had tomatoes leftover since I was only making a small pizza.  I'm saving those for using in some chili.) I  topped with a few spoons of salsa.  Then the pinto beans and then sprinkled with cheese.

Baked and then PIGGED OUT!  I served this with some leftover green lettuce salad I had in my fridge along with some Hidden Valley Ranch (the mix, mixed with sour cream/buttermilk (I used lemon juice / milk there).  I know I should make homemade ranch dressing from scratch but I just haven't gotten those spices yet.

This is a terrific recipe!  If you had some leftover taco meat to spread on first it would be also great, but even without any meat, I really loved it.  Very satisfying and great for lunch as leftovers!  I believe this was a super FRUGAL meal.  I figure the crust cost me about $.25 (the whole batch only costs me about $.70), used less than one-half of the can of tomatoes, so say $.50 even on the high side.  The beans I had in the freezer and were made from dry beans, probably only $.25 and used 1/4 of a small block of cheddar cheese - $.25 which I grated for my pizza.  I figure this meal only cost me about $1.25.  We canned the salsa from our garden.  I actually only ate 1/2 of my pizza and took the leftovers for lunch at work.  What a miser I'm becoming LOL!


I am sharing this recipe at: