Tag Archives: pizza

Overstuffed Pizza Potato Skins

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Overstuffed Pizza Potato Skins

Overstuffed Pizza Potato Skins



 

Ok, I mentioned these like a week ago on my facebook page. Oops. I kinda forgot to post them or even make them until tonight. Can I blame old age, senility, six kids and the damage they have done to my brain cells? My husband and his snoring? Global warming? I got spit on by a camel at the fair once? Some psychological issue that hasn’t yet been discovered and named?
Ok… sorry. I’m done now. But all of the above are still perfectly valid excuses. Just sayin’.

Back in the day, I think I’ve mentioned before, I worked at T.J.Applebees (now just Applebees). One of the things they did then were ten cent wings and ten cent potato skins. Yes, grasshopper, I am so old that wings and potato skins used to go for a dime during happy hour. Excuse me while I go take my Geritol. They also did one dollar pitchers of margaritas and I have many very vague memories of sitting with the other waitresses and drinking a pitcher or six. Ahhh, good times, good times. I think.

Theirs were the typical skins; cheddar cheese, bacon bits, green onions. Yummy as can be, but c’mon, do you REALLY think I’m going to make them that way? I’m the woman that made these potato skins. After all this time, you all know I can’t be normal.

So, me being me, as opposed to me being say Sandra Bullock or Michelle Pfeiffer because God decided that I should look more like the love child of Phyllis Diller and Tiny Tim, I made them differently. I had been craving pizza recently and we couldn’t afford take out, so I used some ingredients I had here at home to make…well, the love child of potato skins and supreme pizza. My husband was like “I don’t know about this… I’m not much on potato skins”. He’s had four in the last 30 minutes. I am of course, gloating. Marital gloat…. it’s almost better than chocolate.

These have a few steps, but they’re quite easy to make, even for multi step. Each step is simple stuff like sauteing veggies or scooping out potatoes. I have faith that you can handle it. :-p I made this for 8 potatoes (16 skins), but it’s easily increased or decreased. If you end up with a little bit extra cheese and/or meat/veggie mixture, it makes a wonderful pizza omelet.

You know the drill… 🙂

Mrs. Cupcake… who is bloated from too much cheese.

Overloaded Pizza Potato Skins

  • 8 medium potatoes
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • 1 small onion, sliced in half, then thinly sliced into half rings
  • 1 small green pepper, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon squeeze basil (available in the produce section)
  • 1 5 ounce package mini pepperoni slices
  • 1 4 ounce package Italian Sausage crumbles (by the lunch meats)
  • 3 small Roma (plum) tomatoes, cut into bit sized pieces
  • 1 15 ounce can or jar of pizza sauce ; use your favorite.
  • 1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese, shredded and mixed with
  • 1/2 lb Mozzarella cheese, shredded
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Rub each potato lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Pierce each one to prevent a lovely little steam explosion in the oven, then place on the middle rack of the oven. bake until a fork can easily pierce the center of the potatoes, about 40 minutes.
  2. Remove from the oven, cut each potato in half and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes.
  3. Use a small spoon and carefully scoop out the insides of each potato half, being sure to leave a thin shell around the edge so the potato isn’t too fragile to handle. Reserve the scooped mashed potato for another use- This is a good recipe to use it for
  4. Turn the oven to 450, then smear the edge and inside of each potato half with a small amount of olive oil. Place back in the oven and let bake until the edges of the potatoes are getting crispy and lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, in a medium pan, pour 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add in the sliced onions, sliced green peppers and garlic. Saute over medium heat , stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft and the onions are lightly browned. Add in the sausage, squeeze basil and the pepperoni; continue cooking until the meats are heated through. Add in the tomatoes and cook just enough to heat them; you don’t want them getting mushy. Set aside when heated.
  6. Remove the potatoes from the oven and turn oven back down to 350. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the insides of each skin with pizza sauce, about a teaspoon or so in each.
  7. Sprinkle each one with a small amount of the mixed cheeses, then spoon some of the meat/veggie mixture into each one. Lay directly next to each other (they help support each other and it prevents them from toppling over in the oven) in a baking dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the tops of the skins.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve hot, with the remaining pizza sauce warmed and served on the side as a dipping sauce.

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When The Moon Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie…

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Sigh. Have I mentioned recently that I REALLY need a good camera?

 

That’s so NOT amore as Dean Martin crooned years ago. It’s more like, sayyyyy, the apocalypse.  That moon thing might hurt. Well, ok, no it won’t because the whole Earth would go BOOM long before the moon actually hit your eye… or your nose… or even an outstretched “OMG, the moon is about to hit me!!!” sort of arm. Now the boom thing? That may hurt for a split second or so.

I am pretty sure that Mr. Martin was dead drunk when he sang those words. But then again, I don’t recall any sightings of him on TV where he WASN’T dead drunk.  Am I the only one who remembers the show he had on TV many many years back? Erhmmm, not that I’m old enough to recall it. I watched it on you tube. Yeah, that’s it. And in those shows…erhmmm, reruns, I remember him always being surrounded by gorgeous women, always lounging against a piano and always dead drunk. Ahhh, the days when men were men. Or something like that.

Now I’m feeling all nostalgic for old TV shows. I used to love all the old variety shows that came on during the Christmas season. My favorite was always the Bing Crosby Special. Oh Gawd, I loved those shows! I have on an old VHS tape one that came out a few years after Mr. Crosby died that was a compilation of all the shows. I kept it once I found it because for YEARS, and I mean MANY YEARS, I remembered the version of “The Little Drummer Boy” he sang with David Bowie ( go look it up on you tube. It’s beyond amazing!) and that was the only way I could hear the song. Then a few years ago, “Now That’s What I Call Christmas” came out with a CD that had that song on it. I was one happy Bing lover.

Back to that moon and pizza pie thing. I love pizza. Matter of fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who DIDN’T like pizza. But if they did, I bet I could change they mind with this one. This doesn’t have sausage or pepperoni or extra cheese or mushrooms (damn. Now I’m hungry.) Nope. This one is covered in a nice cheesecake filling, apples, cinnamon and sugar as well as caramel and a delicious streusel topping. Drooling yet?

I saw a recipe for caramel apple pizza and while it sounded good, that genetically warped part of me took over (go figure huh?) and I had to mess with it. I mean c’mon, would you really expect anything different form me? I didn’t think so. So I added a nice sugar cinnamon sprinkle to the crust to give it some flavor and then topped it all off with an oatmeal crumb topping. The cinnamon sugar could be left off if you preferred but…why? 😀 This makes a great family dessert, especially this time of the year when apples are excellent. It would also be great at a kids Halloween party. This makes 2 pies so if you want to do the math, you could cut the recipe in half 😛

Streusel Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pizza

  • STREUSEL-
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup oatmeal
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • Cinnamon sugar topping-
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon
  • PIZZA-
  • 2 store bought pizza crusts (yes you could make your own but this is meant to be a fairly easy quick to put together treat)
  • 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup caramel dip or topping
  • 3 large apples, cored, thinly sliced (Gala work well)
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped peanuts (I didn’t do this because I don’t like them but figured I’d add it to make it more caramel apple seeming)
  • more caramel topping for drizzling.
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a small bowl, combine all the topping ingredients. Mix well then cut in the butter using a pastry blender. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the cream cheese and the caramel topping.
  4. Spray the pizza crusts with butter flavored baking spray (regular is fine too) and put them on large cookie sheets.
  5. Combine the cinnamon sugar and sprinkle it over the two pizza crusts. Get annoyed at me cause I’ve made you dirty 3 bowls and 2 baking sheets.
  6. Spread half the cream cheese mixture over each pizza crust.
  7. Arrange the apple slices on each crust in a purty spoke design even though they are going to be covered in streusel and you won’t see them. YOU’LL know it’s pretty under there. It’s like wearing nice underwear in case you get into an accident.
  8. Drizzle the apples with more caramel topping. I didn’t give an amount for that because I am heavy handed with it. You may want less…. or more even, in which case call your dentist.
  9. Sprinkle half the streusel topping over each pizza crust.
  10. Bake at 350 degrees until the topping is browned and crispy and the apples are tender.
  11. Serve this with vanilla ice cream. Curse my name as your hips get bigger as you eat and your jeans button pops open. Know that I’m giggling over here.

You Say Pizza I say…Well… I Also Say Pizza. Sorry.

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Growing up in Chicago I learned to love pizza. Contrary to popular legend (and silly TV travel and food shows that keep the myth alive) not all of Chicago pizzas are deep dish. Deep dish has its place sure, but ya know what? I didn’t have deep dish pizza until I was an adult. All the pizza I had as a kid growing up on “Da Sout’ Side” was thin crust and cut in squares not wedges thankyouverykindly. To this day, it’s how I prefer my pizza. On that note, tell me/us about YOUR favorite pizza. What kind of crust, what toppings? My favorite is a thin crust with sausage, mushrooms and extra cheese. Preferably from Artese pizza in Chicago… which I haven’t had since I was about 15 *sobs*. These days I settle for chain pizza because the rural part of Kentucky isn’t exactly a hot spot for good pizza. We also make it home made. My hubby is the pizza king around here when it comes to traditional. I’m the one who likes to shake things up and do it differently. Gee… imagine that. ME? Not doing things the normal way? Nahhhhhhhhh.

One thing I’ve been making for years is what we call pizza bread. Basically, it’s what they call Stromboli or Calzone (both different but similar enough that I feel no guilt using the names more or less interchangeably. Doubt the pizza police are gonna get me 😛 ) but…not. Calzones are usually a half moon shape and strombolis are usually rolled. Mine is neither. It’s one big huge…well… stuffed pizza.  But I cheat by using frozen bread dough. This IS me after all. You know I try to bring you things that are tasty, usually quite bad for you hehehe but as easily done as possible. No exception here.

This is cheesy and gooey and meaty and saucy and…ok, so obviously it has all the flavor levels of pizza.  Suffice it to say that it’s yummy. This is great for a light meal with salad or cut into strips for snacks while watching  TV or hidden somewhere where nobody else can find it and heated up when you’re alone…

 

I have specific filling ingredients listed here but you can sub your favorites. Just be careful not to overstuff. No matter how well you think you have it sealed, put too much sauce, too much cheese or too much filling in it and it WILL break open and make a mess.

Stuffed Pizza Bread

  1. 2 loaves frozen bread dough, thawed (lay it out on foil, lightly grease it & leave till thawed)
  2. 1/2 cup pizza sauce (spaghetti sauce works fine too)
  3. 1/2 cup Tyson Italian Sausage crumbles
  4. 4 ounces (about 10 thin slices) hard salami
  5. 4 ounces Canadian bacon
  6. 12 ounces shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese
  7. 1/2 to 2/3 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
  8. 1 large beaten egg for egg wash
  9. 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella, provolone or “pizza” cheese
  10. Basil Oil for drizzling and extra sauce for dipping if desired
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • On a lightly floured board (or counter like I do 😛 ) roll one loaf of the thawed dough out to about 8×11 or the approximate size of a sheet of copy paper.
  • Transfer to a large greased cookie sheet.
  • Layer the dough with the pizza sauce and toppings.
  • Roll out other loaf to about one inch larger in diameter than you did the other.
  • Brush beaten egg all around the edges of the filled loaf.
  • Carefully drape other loaf on top and seal edges with your fingers. Fold under if necessary.
  • Brush top of stuffed pizza thingamajigger with beaten egg then sprinkle with shaved Parmesan. Drizzle with basil oil.
  • Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
  • Let rest for about 15 minutes before cutting or you’ll just have cheese everywhere. Sounds yummy yes, but rather unfair to the poor sods who get the middle of the loaf with no cheese in it 😛