Ultimate Meat Crust Pizza

This thick, cheesy, gooey pizza is crustless, making it  a  decadent   low carb-pizza recipe. Other than the few carbs in the small can of tomato sauce, it's  pretty much carb free and you  may come to love this more than regular pizza.  Obviously, feel free to add or change toppings, but try this version first so you know what it's like before you begin fooling around with it.   It came from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery as "Hamburger Pizza Pie" in the "Oregano " section and had nothing to do with any kind of diet.  Just lucky for me that  I found it around  the time the Atkins diet first became popular, I'd guess around 1973.  

Preheat the oven to 450. Use 1 lb (or a little more, maybe 1-1/4 if you have it) of  lean ground beef  and mix it with 1 tsp instant meat tenderizer, like Adolph's brand.  Pat into a 12" pizza pan, or a   shallow rectangular baking pan like a small jellyroll type pan. .  Make a slight edge ( and be sure to use a pan that has a lip to it!!).

Mix 8 oz tomato sauce with 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp mixed Italian herbs or oregano and spread over the meat. In order, layer these   on top of the sauce: 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced; 1/4 lb pepperoni or hard salami, thinly sliced; 8 oz ( 2 c.) mozzarella cheese, then one large can of drained sliced mushrooms.

( I know, it seems weird not to have the cheese on top but try it this way). Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp oregano and 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese.

Bake in very hot ( 450) oven about 15 -20 minutes, til cheese is bubbly and browned.

Depending on the fat content in the burger, you may have some grease to carefully pour off  toward the end of the baking time or  when done, so remove the pan  from the oven carefully.

Slice and serve.  It can serve 4  but two hungry  pizza  fans  may easily devour it by themselves  It's also good reheated, and leftovers sometime  show up  in the morning with an  egg perched on top..