Wednesday Recipes: Pizza-By-the-Yard

I started collecting recipes in high school. This one comes from a magazine-like cookbook published by Better Homes & Gardens back in the 1970s. I was visiting with my mother's mother and found it in a stack on her back porch. I asked if I could have it, and since her idea of a good meal was canned biscuits and fried bologna, she gave it to me as a gift. Otherwise, the book would have been tossed!

Treasures in a field!

Ingredients:

1 unsliced loaf French bread

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

1/4 cup chopped pitted black olives

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

3/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted this, in a futile attempt to be healthy)

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 pound ground beef

2 tomatoes, sliced

1 bell pepper, cut in rings

4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese (the original recipe calls for American), shredded

Directions:

Cut loaf in half lengthwise. Combine tomato paste, parmesan cheese, onion, olives, oregano, salt, and pepper. Add meat; mix well. Spread atop loaf halves. Place on baking sheet. Bake in 400 degrees oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; top with tomato slices and green pepper rings. Sprinkle cheese atop tomatoes. Bake 5 more minutes.

Serves 4 - 6.

By the way, you can modify this in so many ways...to start, you can just the bread as a base and add any traditional pizza toppings you'd like! Blessings, Christina :)