Homemade Cheeseburger Pizza

As I have said before, my husband and I pretty much eat pizza every week. I enjoy taking the night off from cooking every once in a while, and sometimes we'll order a pizza from somewhere, or I'll make a frozen one, since it's quick and easy. But, there are times, like this week, where I really want to make one of my own. I try to come up with something my husband and I haven't had, or something that sounds interesting, or...whatever floats my boat that day. This time, it was a cheeseburger pizza. You may have had "hamburger" on your pizza before, but this pizza actually tasted like a cheeseburger. No lie. My husband even commented on it. It was almost like a brain trick. Your eyes saw a flat disc with toppings, your mouth tasted a cheeseburger, and your brain didn't know which to believe. But it was awesome. And, since it was homemade...it tasted better than a delivery pizza would have, of course. Haha. Anyway, I hope you try this and enjoy it. My husband and I did.

Ingredients:
-1 pizza crust (I bought a ready made one from the store that was about 12 or 14 inches, but use whatever you want, although the "plainer" the dough/crust, the better. Italian spices/garlic, etc, wouldn't be good for this pizza)
-1/2 cup of PLAIN tomato sauce (no spices)
-1/4 to 1/2 lb of ground beef, depending on how meaty you want your pizza
-1/2 teaspoon onion powder
-1/2 tablespoon ketchup
-1/2 tablespoon mustard
-1 teaspoon of worceistershire sauce
-1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (or more if you like lots of cheese...whatever)

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, mix the ground beef, onion powder, worceistershire sauce, ketchup, and mustard.

You may be thinking, "That sounds like the grossest combination ever." Let me explain. When I make hamburgers at home, I usually make the beef patties with worceistershire sauce and onion powder. I LOVE the way they turn out. So I thought, "Self, making this pizza will be like making a burger, but in smaller chunks and spread out on a pizza crust. Just season the meat as you would a regular burger, and it will taste like a cheeseburger once you add the cheese to the pizza." And of course, mustard and ketchup are typical condiments, but topping a pizza with mustard and ketchup sounded...dangerous. So I just added it to the meat. Voila! It was a wise decision. Trust me. I used my hands to kneed it all together.

Set that meat mixture aside for the moment.

Preheat the oven according to the pizza crust directions. If it needs to be half-baked before you put on the toppings, then do that. Otherwise, pour the plain tomato sauce onto the crust and spread it evenly into a thin layer.

Why plain sauce, you ask? Well...a cheeseburger doesn't typically have garlic, Italian herbs and spices, or Italian cheeses in it. I figured a regular Italian seasoned tomato sauce would completely ruin the cheeseburgery-ness of the pizza, but it needed a sauce. So, I went with plain tomato sauce. Kinda like a non-vinegary ketchup, if you will.

Next, roll the beef into tiny little meatballs (about 1/2-3/4 inch in diameter)

and place evenly across the pizza.

Make sure they're all approximately the same size so they cook evenly. If you're too lazy for this (which I might be next time...it took me a little while), then just pinch off a small amount and and place it on the pizza.

When the pizza is covered in as much meat as you want, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top.

Bake it according to the crust package directions, or until the crust is golden, the meat is cooked through, and the cheese is melted and bubbly and yummy.

Woohoo! Enjoy! Yum.