Pizza Burgers

I created this dish on the fly the other night, and it was amazing, so I want to get it down even though I didn't measure anything!

My daughter had her birthday party and the kids made their own pizzas. My husband and I are eating low carb so I got out some ground beef to make us some hamburger patties. As it thawed, I was feeling kind of bitter about missing the pizzas. I love pizza! Then I got the idea to season them into "pizza burgers". I chopped up the pizza toppings and mixed them right in with the meat, formed it into burgers and cooked them on the stove.

As they cooked, I got to thinking I could top them with mozzarella cheese, just like the pizza. Then I thought how about some pepperoni? And I kept thinking!

So, here's the basics. I didn't measure any of it, just put in what you like.

1 pound lean ground beef
1 egg
about 3 T bread crumbs or substitute (since we are low carb, I used ground flax meal)
1 clove garlic, pressed
about 1/4 onion, chopped fine
a few slices green pepper, chopped fine
about 10 back olives, chopped fine
about 10 slices pepperoni, chopped fine
about 1 tsp Italian seasoning
about 1/2 tsp salt
a sprinkle of red pepper flakes
about 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
about 3 Tbsp pizza sauce

mix all of the ingredients together until well mixed. Form into patties (we got 5). Flatten the patties as much as possible, but not too thin or they'll fall apart.

Cook on both sides just till brown. They'll be rare, but that's fine.

Transfer to an oven safe pan if your skillet is not oven safe. Top the patties with another dollop of pizza sauce and your choice of toppings. We used - in this order - cheese, pepperoni, sauce, then more cheese.

Bake at 425 for about 8 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly brown. This was the same time and temp the pizza crusts said to use, so we ran with it and it seemed to be just right. Keep an eye on it and don't let the cheese burn.

Serve with extra sauce and parmesan cheese.

This will definitely go into our meal rotation!