I added 1/3 lb. of mild Italian sausage and 2 sticks (a 5 oz. package) of pepperoni blended up in a food processor to the 1 lb. of ground beef. Also added 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup pizza sauce (Mutti's) to the mix. The pizza sauce was used in lieu of the tomato paste. I'm keto and don't keep sugar in the house, so just added one of my keto sweeteners, a teaspoon of honey powder. Worked great. Added another layer of cheese to the top. You can enjoy this without the bun and dip it into some pizza sauce with a fork, or if eating with a bun of some kind (regular bun, keto bun, chaffles, etc.), you can spread pizza sauce on top of your burger and any extra toppings you want. I can see myself chopping up some onions and bell peppers sometime and making this into a pizza style meatloaf too.The way I always enjoyed pizza burgers at diners growing up in the Midwest was simply on a toasted bun, with a few hamburger pickles. No other condiments, or even pizza sauce. Maybe some mayo on the bun. Dipped in ranch, as I got older.
I used Crisco shortening stick for the margarine, and Truvia Granulated Blend and Truvia Brown Sugar Blend for the sugars. They weren't dried out, but not as moist as I would like. When it came time to add the oats and chocolate chips, there wasn't quite enough moisture to stir with a spoon. I had to get in there with my hands and roll the batter into balls to transfer to the pan. They didn't flatten on their own in the oven either, I had to press them down with a fork. Next time, I will use regular butter. I feel like the Crisco shortening stick was the main issue. It was my first time using one, and I do notice it seems firmer than normal Crisco. I didn't notice anyone else in the comments mention needing to add milk or water to help. Maybe I was ignoring my instinct to do that, since everyone else's seemed to turn out so good without alterations.
I halved the sugar and doubled the lemon juice. With a dollop of Cool Whip on top, that sweetness level works for me. Some may disagree. If I were making it for a potluck or something, I might add 1/8-1/4 cup more sugar, because I feel like most people would like it just a little sweeter.
I'm not much of a baker or a cook, so I've never dealt with lemon zest before. The one lemon I bought only made less than half a teaspoon and it called for a whole teaspoon. I will probably just leave the zest out next time because I don't think it makes much difference.
The first time I made this, I followed the recipe to the letter and it was great. The second time, I used cheesecake flavored Jello instead, and it was greater. Use the vanilla Jello only if the store is out of the cheesecake flavor.
It's kind of hard to believe how easy this is. I was happy to find a recipe that would allow me to use up the bag of dried great northern beans my grandma sent home with me on my last visit. This recipe uses about 1/2 a bag of dried northern beans. I bought a 24 oz. jar of salsa. I just went ahead and used the entire thing since there was so little left over. I bought 12.5 oz. can of chicken breast and used it all, including the water it was packed in. It was a long process, making the beans from a bag - rinsing them off, soaking them for 8 hours, quick rinse again, and then boiling them for one hour. The entire process beginning to end using dry beans is 13 1/2-14 hours. Whether you use the jar or dried beans though, it's all mostly hands-off prep, which is great for busy people. I like to smash some of the beans before putting them in the crock pot too. Thickens the texture a bit. This was my second time making it. The first time making it, I cooked some chicken breast I had. I say save your chicken for a chicken main dish and just buy the canned stuff. Tastes the same and saves work. Now that I've used up Grandma's dry beans, I will try the jar beans and make it even easier.
Helpful (2)
07/15/2015
I added a tablespoon of both cinnamon and cardamom to the sauce, that was the only alteration I made. I followed everything else to the letter. That said, I see no value in pouring the sauce over the top. You have to be careful not to make a mess and you don't get the most even coat of sauce on the apples that you possibly can. I noticed some bites were slightly more or less tart than others because of the uneven sauce distribution. Something else that would have made this better for me would have been to bake it at 350-375F for the entire time, and for 20-30 minutes longer, because the apples could have been a bit softer. They were JUST soft enough for me. If they would have been any more firm, this would have been a 3-star pie. Although this was good apple pie, and I am certainly not disappointed, I don't think I'm done searching for my regular go-to apple pie recipe. Only after I made this pie did I notice plenty of other recipes that don't require an entire stick of butter.
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