Mike and I have been doing a lot of talking about married life. How will we manage money? Do we want kids? Who vacuums?

Some of the answers are obvious (for instance, he will be folding all of the laundry. Don’t tell him I said that. But mark my words.) Others are a little trickier.

One of the tricky parts is dinner. I gotta be honest with you all: I don’t usually cook for myself during the week. I either make a big batch of something on Sunday and eat it all week (Naked Vegan Tacos or Roasted Tomato and Onion Bread Soup, anyone?) or I’ll microwave one of those frozen meals. Many nights, as my close friends know, find me at my local deli ordering a half sandwich and a cup of soup and working through dinner.

Cooking every single day is just too hard for me. I can cook a 20-hour dessert on the weekend without flinching, but don’t make me chop a vegetable.

Mike on the other hand is a very clean eater. He usually has broiled steak, chicken, or fish; some veggies; maybe some scrambled eggs. His meals are filled with healthy but plain food. I always tease him about choosing super simple recipes when I’m baking huge desserts, but really, he’s the one who takes the time to cook good meals on a daily basis.

I guess it seems obvious that he should be our go-to dinner person, but then again, I’m bored with his menu already. There are only so many nights I can eat chicken and vegetables.

We need a way to make one dinner customizable to both of our tastes. I’ve always loved Pillsbury crescent rolls for this purpose — they’re so versatile and can be stuffed with any old thing — but recently Pillsbury asked me to try their pizza crust and I enjoyed it, too! It’s perfect for a fun family night since everyone can choose their own toppings.

To try it out, I thought I’d give grilled pizza a go. I’ve wanted to grill pizza since folks around the interwebz first began doing so, but I live in an apartment and don’t have an outdoor grill. I do have a cast iron grill pan, though, so I jumped at the chance to experiment. It turns out that it’s super easy to grill a pizza indoors (and no mosquitoes, hooray). I used the tips from Pillsbury’s How to Grill Pizza website.

The best part about the process, for me, was the power to customize. I chose to cut my Pillsbury pizza crust into mini-pizzas, allowing people to dress their own individual servings. I created a little toppings bar with bowls of tomatoes, avocado, iceberg lettuce, shredded cheddar, sour cream, and tortilla chips. I then grilled the pizzas topped with just salsa, meat, and cheese, leaving the crisp, cold taco salad ingredients for folks to pile on their hot pizzas.


the toppings bar

With summer here, Pillsbury knows you and your family want to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. So at your next BBQ, why not grill pizza (or mini-pizzas!) for a family fun night? Go see how to grill a pizza on Pillsbury’s website. And please save a slice for me.

One year ago: Elvis Presley Bars (Peanut Butter Banana Bacon Bars – with a vegetarian variation!)
Two years ago: Pretty Italian Pressed Sandwiches
Three years ago: Chocolate Mousse Pie
Four years ago: Baking to Freeze: Mexican and Classic Lasagna and Cookies

Easy Taco Grilled Pizza


Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: 6-10 mini pizzas

These mini-pizzas are adorable no matter how you cook them, but grilling pizzas is fast, delicious, and perfect for the summer. Leave the toppings on the side as a topping bar so everyone can create their own perfect pizza.

Ingredients:
1 roll Pillsbury Pizza Crust
1 pound ground beef or turkey
taco seasoning
cheddar cheese
salsa
optional toppings: chopped tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, tortilla chips, sour cream, chopped avocado

Directions:
Review Pillsbury’s easy instructions for How to Grill Pizza before starting out and get all your toppings chopped and ready. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over high heat, drain it well on a paper towel lined plate, and then sauté it with the taco seasoning and a little water until it’s well seasoned. Set this aside with the other prepared ingredients.

Unroll Pillsbury Pizza Crust onto a greased sheet of foil and cut it to desired “mini pizza” sizes.

Preheat a cast iron grill pan (sprayed well with cooking spray) over medium heat (or preheat an oiled outdoor grill to a low heat). Use the foil to flip the mini crusts, one or two at a time, onto the grill. Grill the crust for a minute or two on the first side before flipping it and adding a layer of salsa, seasoned beef, and cheese. Cook another minute or two to melt the cheese, being careful not to burn the bottom crust. If the cheese isn’t fully melted, you can stick the pizza in the microwave for a few seconds post-grilling to finish that job. Take pizzas to the table and let everyone top as they wish. Enjoy!

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by General Mills via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein, though, are all mine and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills. You can rest assured that I never share products with you that I’m not personally enthusiastic about.

by | 13 Comments

13 Comments on Easy Taco Grilled Mini Pizzas

  1. Kelly
    July 23, 2013 at 10:38 pm (11 years ago)

    I am the same way. I cook once per week and it needs to last the entire week. And it’s always just kinda thrown halfheartedly into the slow cooker because I have no interest in doing it. But dessert or bread? Not a problem. Meal prep is so much harder than making desserts and bread. Chop this; chop that; saute this. Blah.

    Reply
    • Julie Ruble
      July 23, 2013 at 11:00 pm (11 years ago)

      Isn’t it funny? I know some people are the exact opposite, but I’d usually rather plan a huge baked good recipe and execute it for hours than deal with “cooking” prep!

      Reply
      • Laura
        July 24, 2013 at 12:49 am (11 years ago)

        Ditto! I love to bake, am not such a fan of cooking. I prefer to make things like chicken burger patties in large batches, freeze them, and then just defrost for a ten minute meal. #lazy Or I’m big on roasting things. Place on baking tray, spray with oil, stick in oven, leave kitchen. And even then, I get bored with peeling and chopping. AHEM. Chopping chocolate, fine. Chopping carrots, snooze. These looks really good, though!

        I wondered – do you have a chocolate cake recipe that you really love? I recently found a chocolate brownie recipe that is soooo superior to any other than I’ve tried that people actually rang up after a dessert buffet for the recipe. And my dad described it as “yumptious”. My dad is a retired university lecturer. He does not make up words. But I don’t have an especially good chocolate cake recipe, so thought you might have some recommendations! 🙂

        Reply
  2. Tieghan
    July 24, 2013 at 2:54 am (11 years ago)

    These sound so good. I love taco anything, but pizza? Awesome!

    Reply
  3. Sarah | The Sugar Hit
    July 24, 2013 at 3:23 am (11 years ago)

    I love the look of this taco pizza! AND as someone who has been living with my manfriend for 5 years, I can say: don’t worry about it! Those things will totally all work out. Seriously. There are always a million little things, and more will crop up every day. If you both remember that you’re a team, and there to help each other you’ll be fine!

    Reply
  4. Karly
    July 24, 2013 at 4:03 am (11 years ago)

    First of all, love these photos! So vibrant and delicious looking!

    Second, I’ll trade you. You take my husband and I’ll take your laundry folding, cooking version. I mean, seriously. My husband can’t even make toast. 😉

    Reply
    • Guy
      August 11, 2013 at 7:21 pm (11 years ago)

      My wife is spoiled , I am a chef so I cook at work, I come home and cook . I prep her breakfast and lunch , I plan our menu monthly . And, do all the gorcery shopping. But…. She does the laundry.lol

      Reply
  5. Samantha
    July 24, 2013 at 2:02 pm (11 years ago)

    I like to cook, I just don’t have the patience. I have a repertoire of fast and tasty meals. And when I say fast, I mean “little active effort on my part” which is not always the same as quick cooking. We have 5 kids, and any meal that requires more than 10 minutes of my active participation is relegated to special occasions. Our meals are rarely fancy, but they’re always tasty. I’ve mastered dispatching cruciferous vegetables (they’re on the menu about 90% of the time), and roasting them. I’ve found that prepared sides (those pretty boxes and bags in the store) take more of my time to prepare than trimming asparagus, tossing it in bacon fat, sprinkling some salt on top, and chucking it in the oven, and they’re just not as nutritious.

    I’ve done some batch cooking too. Meatballs sufficient for tonight’s meal will take 15-20 minutes of my time. Meatballs sufficient for 8-10 meals will take 40 minutes of my time, which works out to 4-5 minutes per meal (plus and extra minute or 2 of effort to heat them for service).

    My grandmother hated to cook, so she’d batch cook and freeze meals every Saturday afternoon. She’d prepare 10 identical dinners. It doesn’t take long, preparing 10 dinners a week, to have an assortment to pull from. I used to love going over for dinner because she always had some of everything ready to go. Shepard’s pie, jerk chicken, lasagna, it was an awesome assortment of food that she kept on hand because she was too lazy to cook every night. 😀

    Reply

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