Taco Pizzas

Five years ago when we still lived in Michigan, we would make the trip up to Battle Creek to go eat at CiCi's Pizza.  Cici's was great because for a very cheap price, we could have an all you could eat pizza buffet and salad bar. So if the kids wanted Mac and Cheese and Pepperoni pizza, they could have it. But for me, I almost always ordered a Taco Pizza.  They would make it for me while I waited and would usually bring at least half of the fresh pizza directly to my table for me.. I absolutely loved the taco pizza.

And then we moved..  And of course, the nearest Cici's pizza to where we moved is 104 miles away.. As much as I love Cici's Taco Pizza, I can't see myself driving 208 miles for it. So I had to learn to make my own version of it..   And honestly, it's probably much better for you because the ingredients are fresher.

What you're going to need is two 12 inch pizza crusts (I used Boboli's crusts ), a pound of ground meat (either beef or turkey will do, whichever you prefer), taco sauce, taco seasoning, and Mexican style blend cheese.  For toppings we are using shredded lettuce, tomato and black olives. (I forgot my jalapenos tonight).

All the ingredients gathered together

 Brown your meat and drain away all the grease.

 Add your taco seasoning and your water, mix and cook down until water is cooked out ..

Garrett doesn't eat Taco Pizza so he wanted pepperoni.. So, Little Man is in the kitchen today making his own dinner :)

Using about a quarter cup of taco sauce, spread over pizza crust.   The back of a spoon is great for doing this.

Using half the cheese and half the taco meat mixture, spread evenly on the crust.  

Pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. 

Almost looks good enough to eat just like that.. 

Now top it with lettuce, tomato, black olives, jalapenos, cheese, crunched up tortilla chips.. Whatever you think would be good ;)   Drizzle a bit of taco sauce over the top and your good to go...  

And as always.. Here's the full recipe