Slow-Cooker Pizza

If you're going to be a Trautman - it's almost a requirement that you have to be able to cook in a Crock-Pot. I'm only half kidding. Without a Crock-Pot, family parties would be nearly impossible. So, I was ecstatic when Miss Denise got me one for my church shower and Mel got me a travel one as well (score!). With Shawn and I being at the house a lot, I wanted to take over some meals so that we don't have to eat out every night. This was a good solution as we don't really have use of our kitchen, since we're remodeling it. I make everything at home, then I take it up to the house to heat. The first (and only, so far) meal I made was Slow-Cooker Pizza from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (I used ground turkey)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

half a box rigatoni, cooked

7 oz. jar sliced mushrooms, drained (I skipped this, because I hate mushrooms)

3 oz. sliced pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni, because I don't like regular as much)

16 oz. jar pizza sauce

10 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

10 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

1) Brown ground beef and onions in saucepan. Drain. (I undercooked it a little, so that it wouldn't get dry in the pot)

2) Layer half of each of the following, in the order given, in slow cooker: ground beef and onions, green pepper, noodles, mushrooms (ew), pepperoni, pizza sauce, cheddar cheese, and mozarella cheese. Repeat layers.

3) Cover. Cook on Low 3-4 hours.

Note: Keep rigatoni covered with sauce so they don't become dry and crunchy.

I have heard some say they don't like noodles in the Crock-Pot because they get "mushy." However, I cooked the noodles a few minutes less, so that they wouldn't get that way from sitting in the pot and soaking up the sauce. That definitely worked - the meal was delicious! Not as good as actual pizza, of course, but it was certainly cheaper - lol. The only thing that would have made it better would have been my mom's homemade sauce instead of sauce from a jar. But, I haven't had the time to learn how to make that yet.