Individual Pizzas

These are so much fun! It was really fun for Bryce to roll out the dough and put toppings on the pizzas. You can use any toppings that you like...just pile them on!

Rhodes frozen rolls
Favorite pizza sauce
Mozzerella cheese
Pepperoni
Parmesan cheese
Italian Seasoning

To defrost rolls, either use the regular method of defrosting or put in an oven heated to 200 degrees and then turned off. Place 2 quarts of boiling water in a shallow dish on the bottom rack. Place rolls on a greased cookie sheet uncovered in the warm oven. Let defrost and rise for 1 hour...they turn out perfectly plump and airy.

Roll out rolls to a flat circle about 5 inches in diameter. Top with sauce, cheese, pepperoni and a pinch of Italian Seasoning. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Delicious and easy!!

* These are GREAT to freeze! It's a great go-to lunch or quick dinner for Bryce. You can either cook them all up and freeze them fully made to put in the microwave or you can cover the tray of pre-cooked pizzas with plastic wrap and freeze them immediately and after several hours or overnight, remove them and individually wrap them up for future use. Just remove from the freezer and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes or until completely cooked. Try it!!!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Found these on Lick the Bowl Good and almost DIED!!! They are SO awesome! I had a slew of kids over here one day and whipped these up in no time and they ate them ALL right down to the last crumb. My mom, Justin and I also enjoyed quite a few:) They are delicious and the perfect kid-size meal.

3/4 cup flour
3/4 t baking powder
1 T Italian seasoning
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped pepperoni
1/2 cup pizza sauce for dipping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24 cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and Italian seasoning; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

NOTE: All my batter did not fit into the 24-mini muffin pan. So I made a full size muffin or 2 with the leftover batter. Some pans are larger than others so you may not have have an issue.

* From Lick the Bowl Good

Chicken Bakes

And we're back!!!

With all this business of having a baby, moving, and being low on the funds, I've lost myself in the mix. My identity was cooking...now I'm just surviving. Till yesterday. I FINALLY got the urge and desire to start cooking again. Let me just say...it feels GREAT!!! And lucky for you I'm starting it off with a bang...which means you're going to have to hit the gym...

If you've ever been to Costco, you know what these are. They serve them in the food court there and also in the freezer section. They are VERY delicious! I saw on Justin cousin, Jen's, blog that they made them. I immediately went on the hunt for the "secret" recipe. I'm not exactly sure if these are the same - ingredient for ingredient - but they sure tasted like it! My dad was even raving about them and he doesn't stray much from his basic meat and potato meals. And don't tell anyone, but I sneaked in a little whole wheat flour cause I was a little low on white flour. Nobody noticed and I didn't tell! HAHA!! Jokes on them...

I'm also sure that the dough they use at Costco is the absolute best, but I don't have the funds and live about 40 minutes from one now...not so convenient. So I have a go-to recipe for all of my pizza doughs that is just awesome (don't forget that I added that whole wheat flour and it was delish...definitely a trick I will be using often in the future.)

Double recipe of my homemade pizza dough found here

Cooked, diced chicken (I used rotisserie chicken ironically from Costco)
Ceasar salad dressing (make sure it's a quality kind...I've had a lot of crap in my day)
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 bunch green onions, diced
Crumbled bacon (I just used a small bag of real crumbled bacon for ease)
Parmesan cheese

Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Marinate the chicken in some Cesar dressing, just enough to cover each piece...not drenched.

Roll out 1 dough ball into a 11x5 rectangle. Spread about 1 teaspoon of Cesar dressing on the dough. Sprinkle marinated chicken evenly over top. Top with both cheeses, green onions and bacon to your liking. Roll the 5 inch side over the ingredients into a tight roll.

Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Top with another teaspoon of Cesar dressing and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 8 chicken bakes. (If you think you don't need this many...don't be silly - make them all. They are a cinch to freeze and make the perfect quick and easy go-to lunch or dinner for the manly folk...and the child folk)

*From recipezaar.com

Pizza Melts

2 cans Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls
¼ c. pizza sauce
1 (3.5oz.) pkg. sliced pepperoni
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg, beaten
2 T parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 c. pizza sauce, for dipping

Heat oven to 375º F. Grease cookie sheet. On cookie sheet, unroll 1 can of dough into 1 large rectangle. With floured rolling pin or fingers, roll or press dough into 12”x9” rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Spread ¼ c. pizza sauce over dough to within ¼” of edges. Top with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. On 14” length of parchment paper, unroll remaining can of dough. Press to make 12”x9” rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. While holding paper with dough, turn dough upside down to cover cheese. Remove paper. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and oregano. Bake for 12 to 17 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand on cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Move to cutting board. Using pizza cutter, cut into 16 squares. Cut each square in half diagonally. Serve with 1 c. pizza sauce for dipping.

* I put a lot more sauce inside because that's the way we like it. Actually, I would put even MORE sauce next time! I topped it off with shredded parmesan cheese and italian seasoning instead of just oregano.

*Picture and recipe courtesy of pillsbury.com because my pictures have been deleting from my camera every so often and it's SOOOO annoying!! I even got some good ones of this! AHH!

Quick Pizza Dough

1 package of yeast
1 C warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 T oil
2 1/2 C flour
1 t Italian Seasoning
1/4 t garlic powder
2 T cornmeal (optional for sprinkling on cookie sheet)

Dissolve yeast in warm water and add sugar. Let yeast sit about 10 minutes (you want it good and foamy). Stir in remaining ingredients until blended. Beat vigorously 20 strokes. (I did this all in my kitchen aid) Allow dough to rest 5 minutes in a bowl with saran wrap or a towel over it. Preheat oven to 425, spread dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal (optional). Top with desired toppings and bake for 20 minutes. This makes 1 (14 inch) pizza.

*I upped the oven to 500 degrees and baked it for 10 minutes flat. It cooked it perfect (thanks to Eileen's sister, Mary!) The cheese was nice and bubbly when it came out. I thought this was a pretty good dough for how fast it was. I don't have a pizza baking sheet or stone, so I just put it in a sheet cake pan and had it extend to and up the edges...so it was a rectangle pizza, but who cares anyway...IT'S PIZZA! VERY easy and VERY good.

*From Real Mom Kitchen.

Cowboy Calzones

Looking for a new recipe to try, naturally I turned to The Pioneer Woman. It's really just a no-brainer!! I found these in her new cookbook (that everyone must have in my opinion!) I changed a few things to my liking, but for the most part they are original. I used my own recipe of pizza crust because I love it so much. I love a pizza crust that has a flavor on it's own. I also used sharp cheddar cheese instead of Monterey jack...because that's just the kind of gal I am. The best part about these is that you can just make them your own. They were super delicious...as expected.

1 recipe pizza crust (found here)

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 (8 oz) can tomatoes and chilies (I use Rotel brand)
8 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 egg
salt and pepper
1 egg for egg wash plus 1 T olive oil
sour cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large skillet, combine the ground beef with the onion. Brown over medium heat and drain excess grease. Pour in the tomatoes and chilies. Stir to combine and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly

In a bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, cheddar cheese and egg. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Add the cooled meat mixture to the cheese mixture and stir gently to combine. Add more salt to taste.

Divide the pizza dough into 8 equal-size balls. With a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll each ball into a 6-inch circle. Place 1/8th of the meat/cheese mixture in the middle of each circle. Sprinkle a little bit more cheddar cheese over top. Fold half of the circle over the other half, gently pressing to slightly spread and flatten the filling inside. Press a fork along the edge to seal closed, then transfer to a greased baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Brush the calzone with the olive oil/egg wash.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve with sour cream - in my opinion, this is a must!

*From The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Pizza Pinwheels

1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2-3 T shredded asiago cheese or parmesan cheese
1/2 c sliced pepperoni, finely chopped
2-3 T pizza sauce
1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg white, beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, mix cheeses, pepperoni, and pizza sauce. Unroll dough; separate dough into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforations to seal. Spread each rectangle with about 3 tablespoons pepperoni mixture. Starting at shortest side, roll up each rectangle; pinch edges to seal. Cut each roll into 6 slices. Place, cut side down, 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg white. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with additional pizza sauce. Makes 24 pinwheels.

Pizza Roll-Up

This is such a fun spin on traditional pizza!! It was super easy to eat....especially for our 2 year old. I was skeptical if it would cook all the way through or not, but it turned out perfect! I will definitely be making this again!

1 recipe quick pizza dough, found here
Any toppings you like for your pizza (we chose the traditional pepperoni and cheese)
1 T olive oil
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface. It should be a large rectangle, about 12x16 inches and about 1/4 inch thick.

Arrange any toppings you like for your pizza. We just did the traditional pepperoni with sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni. Just make sure that you don't go overboard on the toppings or it won't cook all the way through.

Roll the dough into a thin cylinder, gently tucking in the ends. Brush the entire roll with 1 T Olive oil and 1 egg beaten together and season with the salt & pepper, Italian seasoning and more cheese if you like (I used shredded Asiago...can't beat it folks!)

Place the dough, seam-side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Cool the roll for 5 minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut it into 3/4-inch slices. Serve with extra pizza sauce if you like. Enjoy!!

*Adapted from Two Peas in Their Pod.