Pizza Rolls

Slowly but surely (okay, more slowly than surely) I'm getting caught up on my blog posts. I have a note in Outlook that I update with the posts I'm going to do, and I'm hoping soon it starts getting shorter instead of longer. I feel like my time management skills have really been lacking lately. It's not just my blog, it's with everything!

This goes all the way back to the Super Bowl. I'm at least getting it in just under two months, so it could be worse I guess. My BFF Jen and her husband had a Super Bowl party for all of our friends. It was super fun but a little nuts with 16 kids running around and 12 adults hanging out watching the game. The food we had was amazing. AMAZING. Everyone brought a ton of stuff, and I gorged the whole time. I had a food baby for days afterwards. But it was worth it. On the Evite she had sent it seemed like most people were bringing some kind of dip or spread, so I wanted to do something different. I had seen these on Pinterest and thought they looked good and would be kid friendly.

Pizza Rolls
Source: Adapted from TidyMom.net via Pinterest

2 cans crescent rolls
garlic salt
Italian Seasoning
1 cup sliced pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 425

Dust a large cutting board or piece of wax paper with flour and roll out each pizza crust. Season each crust with garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Top with cheese and meat.

Starting with the long side, roll crust into a tight log. Slice into 1" sections.

Place on lightly greased pan and bake for 10-12 mins.

*****

The original recipe called for using the tubes of pizza crust dough, but I opted for crescent rolls. I don't remember why now, but it probably involved cost and coupons. It also said to roll it starting with the short side, but I rolled the long side so I'd get more out of it instead of thicker ones, if that makes sense. The crescent roll dough was a little thin once it was rolled out some, but I made it work. My five year old (well, now he's six but he was five at the time) loved helping me make these.

These were fantastic and were gobbled up at the party. There were a few left, so I left some with Jen for her son to take in his lunch and I brought the rest home and did the same for Boy #1. These are actually a great lunchbox item, too! I'll definitely be making them again, either for another party or event or to have on hand to send in lunches.

No Carb Pizza

Last week the husband suggested to me that we have a no carb week this week. He went to Mississippi to visit his best friend and knew he'd be over indulging. Last year we started the year off with a no carb week, but this year we were running a half marathon on January 15th, so going without carbs the first week of the year was going to be more detrimental than helpful. Since we both tend to get tired of the no carb thing quickly I chose all new dinner recipes to try and keep it exciting for us. Enter Pinterest.com. I did a search on low carb meals and came up with a bevy of ideas. Some have been good, some have been okay, nothing has been awful. I've had an easier time this week than in times past cutting out carbs, maybe because I'm more used to doing it now? I don't know. Or maybe I know we're just doing it through Monday, so the end is near already.

Anyway, the husband and my kiddos love pizza. I'm a fan, but I'm not a pizza monster like the three of them are. This sounded intriguing...pizza with no carbs in the crust? But I figured it was worth a try.

No Carb Pizza
Source: AccidentalMommies.com via Pinterest.com

For the crust:
1 (8 oz.) package of full fat cream cheese (room temp.)
2 eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
Garlic powder
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

For the pizza:
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Sauteed pepperoni
Garlic powder

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 9×13 baking dish
Blend cream cheese and eggs and season with pepper & garlic powder
Add parmesan cheese and stir until combined
Pour into buttered baking dish
Bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown
Let crust cool for 10 minutes before adding toppings
After crust is cooked, raise oven to 400 degrees

For the pizza:
Mix together marinara sauce, garlic powder, & oregano
Top crust with marinara and spread evenly
Top with mozzarella cheese
Add toppings
Bake for 8 minutes or until cheese is bubbly

*****

I was pretty skeptical when I pulled the "crust" out of the oven, and I was a bit worried because my universal dinner back-up plan of Little Ceasar's pizza wouldn't work with no carbs. But I forged ahead praying and crossing my fingers it would at least be edible. And you know what? It was actually pretty awesome. Boy #2 wasn't sure about the crust at first and just ate the toppings, but once the husband told him it was cheese and eggs, he was completely on board with it. There was none of this left by the time dinner was done. The husband said he'd even eat it when we were doing no carbs! I used turkey pepperoni as the only topping. It didn't even occur to me to put anything else on it, but I think next time I'd add some veggies or a second meat to make it slightly more filling. this will definitely grace our table again!

Pizza Loaf

And my updating continues! Boy #2 has taken to getting up at the ass crack of dawn, so while he's engrossed in an episode of Word World I figured I'd do some blog updating. For my meal plan last week I went through some older clipped recipes I had. For years my mom got me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine. I'd doggy-ear a bunch of recipes in each issue and then usually forget about it. I got tired of having years' worth of magazines around, so I finally went through each one and looked at all the recipes again (the husband has gotten more adventurous in his eating over the years, so I knew there'd be stuff I had originally passed up but that he'd eat now) and cut out all the recipes I wanted to try. Then I stuck them in a folder and forgot about them there. Not really, I just rarely pull that folder out to go through the recipes in it. I figured I was probably missing out on some tasty stuff, so I got it out last week and did the bulk of my meal planning using recipes from there.

Boy #1 had his first friend sleepover last week, and I thought this would be a good dinner to have while his BFF was here eating dinner with us.

Pizza Loaf
Source: Adapted from Quick Cooking Magazine, September/October 2003

1 loaf (1 pound) frozen bread dough, thawed
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 tsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
8 ounces sliced turkey pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 medium green pepper, diced
Marinara sauce for dipping

On a greased baking sheet, roll out dough into a 15-inch x 10-inch rectangle. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, parmesan cheese, oil, parsley, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper. Brush over the dough. Sprinkle with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, and green pepper. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal and tuck ends under.

Place seam side down; brush with egg whites. Do not let rise. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Warm the marinara sauce and serve with sliced loaf.

Yield: 10-12 slices

*****

First of all, make sure you allow enough time for the frozen dough to rise, if you're using that instead of making your own. There are three thawing options on the package, including a "quick" rise that takes around three hours instead of overnight. I didn't have that problem this time, but it has happened to me before.

This was a HUGE hit at my house. Boy #1 isn't a fan of pepperoni or anything on pizza except cheese, but even he ate it (admittedly it was somewhat begrudgingly). The husband kept going back for more pieces, and the BFF had two pieces of it. This was definitely a fun twist on pizza and something I'll make again since we all loved it so much.

(Sorry again for the cell phone pic!)

Bubble Pizza

We're having kind of a ghetto dinner tonight, but I'm okay with it. I have a folder of recipes that I've been collecting since college. It actually started as a little cookbook I made myself when I moved out of the dorms and would be having to cook for myself. I didn't always like to cook, I only really started doing it at that time. Over the years as I printed off recipes or came across them in magazines I'd stick them in this folder. I hadn't gone through it in awhile, so this weekend I sat down and went through it. Most of the dinners I'm making this week are recipes I came across in there that I haven't made in forever or have never made.

This recipe I found on a frugal/budget website several years ago. We were low on funds so I was looking for some frugal recipes. I've made other recipes I found on there and they've all been good. I had some pepperoni in the fridge that I need to use up, so I thought this might be a good use for it.

Bubble Up Pizza

3 pkgs. refrigerator biscuits
1 can or jar of spaghetti sauce
Shredded cheese
Pizza toppings of your choice (I'm using pepperoni, green pepper, and mushrooms...I was having vegetable guilt)

Cut biscuits into quarters and place in a 9x13 baking dish. Add sauce, stir to coat, and spread evenly in bottom of pan. Top with cheese, then toppings, (I usually stick to 3 toppings at a time).

Bake at 375 degrees for about 35-40 min. Be sure to check middle to make sure all the dough is cooked through.

*****

See? Pretty ghetto, but I'm actually looking forward to trying it. Plus I'm hoping the boy will enjoy it, so we won't have to fight him to eat at dinner tonight. I think we'll probably just have a salad on the side. Oh, and I'm going to make up some sauce using a can of crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and some onion and garlic. I can only handle so many processed foods at a time. ;)

*****

There were mixed reviews on this. The husband LOVED it. He said he could eat the whole pan of it. I thought it was just okay. If I'm going to make pizza I'd rather make real pizza. I'll probably only make this again if he requests it. It wasn't bad necessarily, just not my favorite.