Pizza Soup

Pizza Soup is a favorite around here! 

• 1 pound of ground beef, venison, or sausage
•  1 tbsp dried, minced onion (or diced fresh onion)
• 1 Tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 1 large can of spaghetti sauce and another full can of water (use the sauce jar)
• 1 large can of tomato juice
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (with juice)
• 2 cans of mushrooms
• 1/2 package of pepperoni, chopped
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• sprinkle onion powder - to taste
• Any other toppings your family enjoys on a pizza (saute'd red peppers, black olives, etc...)
• Shredded cheese

Brown meat/saute' onion & Italian seasoning with the meat.  Drain

I like to also cook my pepperoni for a couple of minutes to crisp them up.

Fill a large soup pot with all ingredients, and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes.  You may want to let it simmer for about 20 minutes on low so flavors can blend.

Sprinkle cheese on top of the soup after you ladle it into the bowl.  Serve with Texas toast or bread sticks!

Easy Home-made Pizza, using Self-Rising Pizza Crust

This is an extremely frugal meal if you just use cheese and sauce.  :-)

Self-Rising Pizza Crust (from HillbillyHousewife.com)

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry yeast

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

I doubled the recipe, making a giant pizza on my giant cookie sheet.  If you don't have a giant cookie sheet, you can make 2 pizzas if you have extra pans and pie pans and such.

 The recipe above (undoubled) makes a 9x13 size.

In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and yeast.  Stir it up to distribute the salt and yeast evenly.  Add the water and oil.  You may need a spoonful or two more of water if the day is dry.  Mix he dough with a wooden spoon until it forms a big ball in the middle of the bowl.  It will be a little stiffer than biscuit dough.  Knead the dough about 10 or 12 times and then form it into a ball.  Place the ball in the center of a 16 inch pizza pan or a 9 x 13 inch rectangular pan.  Use your hands and a rolling pin, to press the dough into the pan.  I find a rolling pin most effective in this effort.  The dough will be a medium thickness.

For rolling out the dough, I use a mat I found at Walmart in the kitchen utensils section (near the cake pans).  It is  made by Wilton used to roll out pie crusts.  It is great for rolling out doughs.  You roll it up and dump the excess dough and flour into the garbage.  Hand wash on the counter with soap and water. Easy clean up!  I have found that I am more likely to do from-scratch dough recipes when I have an easy way to clean up.  I highly recommend it. Click here to see what it looks like.

 Top the crust with a sauce and toppings of your choice.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. 

Beef & Mushroom Lasagna

I clipped this recipe from a magazine. You can also find it at campbellskitchen.com. It was a hit with my family. :-)


Ingredients:

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup milk

1 lb. ground beef

2 cups Mushroom flavored spaghetti sauce

9 cooked lasagna noodles (I  have used both lasagna and egg noodles.  Egg noodles are very simple and easy... especially if you have children!)

1 cup shredded Italian-blend or mozzarella cheese

Directions
Heat the oven to 400°F. Stir the soup and milk in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth.

Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat. Stir in the Italian sauce.

Layer half the beef mixture, 3 lasagna noodles and 1 cup soup mixture in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, remaining beef mixture, remaining noodles and remaining soup mixture. Sprinkle with the cheese. Cover the baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the lasagna is hot. Uncover the baking dish.

Heat the broiler. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 2 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Next time I make this, I may try to layer cheese into the dish as well as on the top. 

Grilled pizza

This recipe was in our electric consumer newsletter.  The boys loved it.

I am typing from memory so I apologize for the un-sofisticated style here. ;-)

You need bread, white cheese slices of your choice (mozzerella, monterey jack, etc), basil, and pizza sauce.

Make a grilled cheese sandwich with the bread and cheese, except sprinkle the bread with basil before you grill it.  Use a pizza cutter to cut into long strips.  Dip in warm pizza sauce.

I think next time I am going to try to put mushroom slices or even pepperoni in the middle! Well.. anything that might top a regular pizza would probably be good.

Calzones

The last post was a recipe for home-made pizza. Since then, I have used the pizza crust to make a calzone.

It works very well; you just bake it longer.

Here is how I made the dish tonight:

• I made spaghetti
• I made the pizza crust
• Roll out the pizza crust and spoon the spagetti into the middle, (like you would for a burrito).
• Roll the crust up like a giant burritto, pinching the ends and placing it folded side down on the ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 400* for 30-35 minutes. After it bakes, slide it out and brush it with butter and bake for five more minutes to brown it (or if you are brave, put it on broil).

After I made the spaghetti calzone, I thought it would have been even better if I had sprinkled some garlic salt/powder or Italian herbs on top. Have fun with it!

Here are some good ideas for a large variety of calzones.