Mexican Pizza

Shaune and I have been eating vegetarian for Lent this year. It seems to be a popular idea for 2010! We've been eating tons of just beans and rice, but that gets a little boring. Last night I REALLY wanted pizza. And Shaune REALLY wanted Mexican food. So, we struck up a bargain and met half-way.

I wanted to get a picture of this because it looked so fresh and yummy, but we were too hungry to photograph first and there weren't any left-overs. You'll have to trust me that it looked as excellent as it tasted.

Mexican Pizza

Prepare your favorite pizza crust recipe. Once it's stretched to fit the pan, prebake it for 10min give or take.

Start layering on the Mexican goodness:

• Refried beans come first
• Salsa to take the place of regular sauce
• Cheddar or mexican blend cheese
• Diced onions and already-cooked black beans

Since everything is already cooked, stick it in a 350 oven for just a few minutes to finish toasting the crust and make the cheese a gooey mess. While it cooks, thinly slice up some lettuce. Sprinke this over the top once you pull it out of the oven.

This meal is CHEAP, too. We used half of an $0.80-ish can of refried beans for one pizza; if you have more people to feed, make a second. Everything else we keep in the fridge. The black beans had been cooking (from dried) most of the day since I had planned to serve them with rice for dinner. I can imagine this pizza being the center piece of a themed meal -- time to plan a fiesta!