Mushroom Philly Cheese French Bread Pizza

One of the big trends right now is "Meatless Monday"...it's a healthy and economical option for a lot of families including mine!  The problem is #1 - I am not that organized to plan that Monday will always be meatless and #2 - I may want some sort of meat on Monday.  So...I usually have a meatless day during the week, I'm just not promising you that it is going to be Monday.

Now, you are probably looking at my picture and saying, "Wait.  I see pepperoni on one of those slices."  Yes you do.  I probably mentioned before that I have one child who hates cheese (Yes, my son with the Italian name Rocco...its a disgrace:).  I usually don't customize dinners for him...its usually "Eat it or make yourself something else."  But today was his lucky day.  I didn't have enough topping to cover all my bread so he got a piece with spaghetti sauce and pepperoni.  Don't judge me!

Today's "Meatless Wednesday" night dinner was Mushroom Philly Cheese French Bread Pizza.  I don't even use the fancy mushrooms!  I use regular button mushrooms!  This whole meal is under $5...you can't beat that!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
16 oz button mushrooms
1 small onion (rough chop)
1 green bell pepper (rough chop)
1 garlic clove (minced)
2 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Oregano
3 sprigs of fresh thyme or about 1 tsp of thyme seasoning (fresh is better)
Salt and Pepper
6-8 Slices Provolone Cheese (optional)
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
French Bread *I used 1 1/2 Mini-Italian loaves because they were out of French Bread.
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Step 1:  Put large sauce pan over a medium high heat.  Allow it to heat up (with no oil or butter) and throw all the mushrooms in.  The mushrooms will literally sound like they are screaming...it kind of freaks me out a little.  Let them brown up a few minutes.

Step 2:  When you start to see the mushroom juices, add your onions, peppers, and garlic.  Add Worcestershire Sauce, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper...it is important to season to taste.  My family likes things heavily seasoned and for this pizza, I like my onions and peppers to still have some bite to them.

This is just a picture to show what size I like to chop my veggies for this dish.  You can take off points because they are not uniform pieces but that's ok with me.

Step 3:  Cut bread in half length-wise.  If the bread is really thick (sometimes the Italian loaves are), scoop out some of the bread in the middle.  Lay the Provolone slices on top of the bread...now if you don't have any cheese slices, its OK.  Just leave that part out.  Add mushrooms, peppers, and onions.  Cover that with Mozzarella and bake at 425° for about 10 minutes.  Then I switch my oven over to broil for the last minute or two to brown some of the cheese on top.  I garnish mine with chopped fresh parsley. Pin It Now!