Recipe: “Bubble Up” Pizza Casserole

I found variations of this casserole on the Weight Watchers site. I made some modifications in ingredients and cooking temps to get to my final result. It’s a nice “family friendly” casserole. Mainly, I wanted to placate my pizza cravings without going overboard. This casserole did the trick.

Ingredients

• 1 serving cooking spray
• 4 Boca Original Meatless Burger, microwaved and cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, Sliced
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 package (13 3/4 ounces) refrigerated pizza dough (I used Pillsbury)
• 1 cup Weight Watchers reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 9″ x 13″ pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
Heat the Boca Burgers in the microwave until cooked. Cut into small cubes.

Spray a deep saucepan with cooking spray. Add garlic and heat until fragrant (but do not let brown) about 30 seconds. Add the sauce ingredients, the spices, the mushrooms and the broccoli and cook until the vegetables have softened. Add the chopped Boca Burgers. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Let cool for 5 minutes.

While the sauce is cooling, unroll pizza dough on another piece of foil. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough roughly into 1″ squares. After the sauce has cooled for 5 minutes, drop pieces of the dough into the pot, stirring occasionally to distribute. Pour the mixture into prepared pan and distribute evenly.

Bake in heated oven for 25 minutes. Sprinkle top evenly with cheese and bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

Remove from the oven, let sit for 5 mintues, then cut and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: I used the marinara sauce and tomato paste because I didn’t have pizza sauce on hand. You can substitute 2 1/2 cups of your own or a commercial pizza sauce for these ingredients. Also, this was a “drier” version of the dish. If you want a “saucy” version, add more sauce! The nutritional information may change slightly, but not significantly. You can also substitute your favorite “toppings” instead of the Boca Burgers, mushrooms and broccoli, but the nutritional information will be significantly different.

Nutritional Information

Per serving: 212 Calories; 3g Fat (13.5% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 572mg Sodium.

WW Points Estimate: 4