This recipe came directly from the website www.emilybites.com. If you’ve never checked it out, I highly recommend you do so!!! Emily is my kind of girl and her website ROCKS!!!!!! She’s amazing and has fabulous ideas, great photos and easy to follow recipes. Wooohoooo!

The following recipe is terrific “comfort food” for these chilly fall nights. I made it for the family last night along with roasted butternut squash*.

Below, you’ll see that I caught Cole, my 17 year old, sneaking a bite as he came in from football practice, before dinner. I take that as a huge complement!!! As you know…I don’t love spending hours in the kitchen! Of course his first response was “Yum” and his second was “Did YOU really make this?” Hahahahahahahaha! See, I get them to set their expectation of my cooking low and then when I exceed it, even with easy recipes, they are all amazed and thrilled!! It’s less pressure that way!

Hope you all enjoy the deep dish sloppy joe casserole too.

Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole
Source: inspired by my (Emily) Deep Dish Pizza Casserole, sloppy joe ingredients adapted from Skinnytaste

Ingredients:
1 lb 95% lean ground beef
1 tablespoon McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning (I used the reduced sodium kind)
8 oz white mushrooms, minced (I used a food processor)
1 medium carrot, minced (I used a food processor)
1 medium onion, minced (I used a food processor)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a food processor)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
15 oz can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (11 oz) can of refrigerated pizza crust dough (such as Pillsbury thin crust)
1 cup shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly mist a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Bring a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Break the ground beef up with a spoon or spatula while cooking. Sprinkle with steak seasoning and continue to cook until beef is browned. Add the mushrooms, carrot, onion, garlic, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, cayenne pepper, tomato sauce, and tomato paste and stir together. Cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Unroll your pizza dough and lay it in your prepared baking dish. Push the dough down across the dish and up the sides. Pour the meat mixture from your skillet into the pizza dough. Place in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese over the top. Place the casserole back in the oven and cook for 5 additional minutes or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is browned.

Yields 6 servings.
Nutrition Information per serving from myfitnesspal.com: 356 calories, 38 g carbs, 12 g fat, 27 g protein, 3 g fiber

*I buy my squash already cubed (preferably from Trader Joe’s but this week I picked up Green Giant brand in a steamer bag at Jewel in produce section) and add chopped onions and 21 Season Salute from Trader Joe’s. Spread the mixture in a cookie sheet, spritz with olive oil and roast at 375* for about 15 minutes. Roasting time varies depending on the thickness of your squash cubes and how crispy you like them.