These are incredibly quick, incredibly easy and incredibly good! I keep all the ingredients made up in my freezer and refrigerator so that such lunches are a snap for me! These little gems can’t be picked up and eaten like regular pizza as they are too wet/messy, so get out a fork to enjoy these. This recipe is not suitable until you reach the nuts rung of the Phase 2 OWL carb ladder. They are OK for Primal diners, but not Paleo. These would be lovely served with a nice green salad. These can also be made with ground beef, or with a bit of shredded, cooked chicken.
INGREDIENTS:
12 oz. breakfast sausage (I make homemade sausage)
1 egg, beaten
¼ tsp. each crushed fennel seed and dried oregano leaves (or ½ tsp. Italian seasoning)
¼ c. low-carb spaghetti sauce (I use Lucini)
¼ c. pesto sauce
1 c. grated mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz.)
½ oz. thin sliced red or green bell pepper, cut into strips
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. In a medium mixing bowl, well mix the sausage, egg, fennel and oregano with a fork or your hands. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of meat into each of 12 muffin cups and press down with the back of the spoon. I used a silicone muffin pan. Pop into your 350º preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove, tilt and blot off excess grease with paper toweling. Top each meat pattie evenly with 1 tsp. spaghetti sauce. Next spread 1 tsp. pesto sauce on top. Sprinkle each with about 1T. of the mozzarella cheese, going back and using it all up evenly. Top with a piece of bell pepper. Pop back into oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. Cool slightly and gently lift them out with a fork onto your serving platter.
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 12 mini-meatzas, each contains:
161 cals, 13.4g fat, 1.44g carbs, 0.36g fiber, 1.08g NET CARBS, 8.5g protein, 136 mg sodium
