We got the privilege of babysitting our cousins the other night. We used to trade every week but with remodeling/rearranging in both households it’s been awhile. To be honest both families have oldest daughters now who are old enough to babysit their own families. Trading babysitting really isn’t necessary, but we don’t say that out loud. The kids LOVE getting together and I like knowing they will have good memories of growing up with their extended family.
I promised the kids I would make pizza and then promptly forgot. Instead I boiled up two chicken carcasses in the crock pot and made homemade chicken noodle soup. Except I didn’t watch the time and the noodles got waaaay too soft. So not only was there no pizza, but the soup was gross. (I’ll take their word for it–I couldn’t even bring myself to taste it.)
I had Darren’s favorite junk food frozen pizza rolls in the freezer. He said we could use them. But I looked at the number of kids (10) and the number of rolls and knew there would never be enough. My first thought was to run to the store and grab more, but my budget couldn’t take that. Whatever I did was going to have to be from what I already had on hand.
My workspace this day was the top of our giant deep freezer. The freezer has it’s own little closet but it had to move out while we tiled the floor. The extra workspace in the kitchen was a blessing. (The water bottle looks like misplaced junk right here, but it was functioning as my rolling pin.)
Normally I make this crust with fresh ground whole wheat flour, but I’m not sure where I packed my wheat grinder. For now, we just used white. (The kids tolerate my whole wheat stuff but every one of them prefers white, sigh.)
I tried to deep fat fry these babies, but that was a disaster. They unrolled themselves in the hot oil and all the cheese sank to the bottom and melted. So we slapped them on the griddle instead. (Baking them in the oven would have been a lot better way to go. If I had an oven, I would have baked the logs and cut them into bites afterwards to keep all the goodies inside.)
They didn’t last long. Every child called these a win (and when they were the course after soggy noodle soup–how could they lose?)
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cup warm water
- 1 Tbs yeast
- 2 Tbs honey
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 cups flour (unbleached or 100% whole hard white wheat)
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 2 oz pepperoni, chopped
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In a bread machine or electric mixer, combine the first 6 ingredients, making sure the salt doesn't come in direct contact with the yeast (use a little flour as a buffer.) Let rise for 1 hour (skip it if you are in a hurry, but the dough will roll out better if you let it relax for an hour.)
- Divide dough into 2 balls. Roll each ball into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3 strips. Stop with marinara, pepperoni and cheese (leaving a border on the edge of the dough plain so you can pinch it closed.) Roll up and pinch closed.
- Placed on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then cut into bite sized pieces.
- Or cook on a 350 degree griddle for 5-7 minutes on each side until golden brown. (Be careful not to burn them.)
I love your ability to improvise and work with what you have. You are my inspiration. 🙂 Btw, we got the same Ninja blender set for Christmas that’s in your picture. I love it and use it every day.
Jamie Brown Davy I haven’t opened my Ninja yet. I’m excited to try it!
Thank you for sharing this, I’ll try to make this on Sunday Superbowl party!!!
These would be huge in my house! 🙂
Wow! Was just thinking about finding a recipe like this for my kids! Thinking about taking one weekend and making a while bunch to freeze. My mom would buy those little pizza rolls,but I read the ingredient list and yikes! Thanks so much for sharing.
Do you think these would work with a gluten free flour mix? I used to love pizza rolls too but haven’t had them in years and I know my family would love them!
Patty, If the gluten free mix has xanthan gum in it, I think it would work. The texture will be different but this recipe is more forgiving that way than a tall rising dough would b.