Baked Italian Casserole

Ingredients:

8 ounces rotini pasta

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/4 onion, diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

12 ounces spaghetti sauce

8 ounces cottage cheese

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon italian seasoning

1/4 pound sliced pepperoni

1 can (2.25 ounce) sliced black olives with jalapenos, drained (optional)

1 can (4 ounce) mushrooms, drained (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta according to the package.  Brown the meat with onions and garlic. Drain noodles and meat.  Add spaghetti sauce and layer in bottom of greased 9x13 pan. If you would like to add the mushrooms or olives, mix in as well.  I chose not to add either.  Mix cottage cheese, Italian seasoning and shredded cheese together.   Spread on top of the noodle and meat mixture.  Top with pepperonis.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbling.

I didn’t have rotini noodles so I used elbow macaroni which tasted just fine.  The flavors tasted even better together the next day when warmed up for lunch.  

Italian Crescent Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained (I did half beef and half Italian sausage)

1 cup garlic tomato pasta sauce

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1½ cups shredded Italian cheese blend

¼ teaspoon dried basil leaves or Italian seasoning

Brown your meat with some minced garlic and seasonings.  Once cooked, mix in pasta sauce. Heat over medium heat until warm.  Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles. Place dough in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate in spoke pattern, with narrow tips overlapping rim of plate about 3 inches.  Press dough in side and bottom of pan to form crust and cover the pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese over dough in the pan. I also added 5 pepperoni’s across the cheese and some Italian seasoning.  Spoon meat mixture evenly over cheese.  Bring tips of dough over filling to meet in center; do not overlap.  Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup cheese over the dish followed by the basil. Here I added a few shakes of parmesan cheese as well.  Bake at 375°F 15 to 20 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes before cutting. 

This smelled so good while it was baking my mouth was watering.  And it didn’t disappoint when it hit my lips! It’s like a pizza pie or calzone or just some yummy crescenty Italian goodness in a pie pan.  Very delicious and easy to make. Molly loved it too.  Can’t wait to make this again soon. 

Skillet pizza (low carb)

Review by Lyndee:

This was very easy to make and I thought it turned out pretty good for a crustless low carb pizza snack. 

Ingredients:

Mozzarella cheese

Toppings (I used 5 slices of pepperoni) but you can add whatever you wish)

Heat non-stick skillet to medium heat.  Add ½ cup of mozzarella cheese.  Top with ingredients.  The cheese will melt, bubble and begin to turn a slight golden brown on the bottom.  Check often to make sure it doesn’t burn.  Once the bottom is a nice golden brown and your toppings are warm, remove from heat  Let stand a minute so that the cheese can set.

To me this tasted like a very thin crust pizza. I generally enjoy the cheese and toppings most anyway so this was a great snack for me.  Only takes a few minutes to make, you can get some protein and feel like you’re indulging and eating pizza.  

Pizza Dip

Review by: Lyndee

Ingredients:

2 8 oz blocks cream cheese (I used reduced fat)

2 tbsp sour cream (mine was sour cream and chives)

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

20 pepperonis

1 cup mozzarella or pizza blend shredded cheese

Optional-anything else you would like on a pizza such as onions, garlic, sausage, peppers, olives, etc.

Combine two blocks of room temperature cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan and Italian seasoning.  Dice up half the pepperonis into small pieces and mix into your cream cheese base.  Once well mixed spread into the bottom of a baking dish or crockpot. Top with shredded cheese.  Top that with the remaining pepperoni.  Bake at 350 until golden brown or in crockpot until the top cheese layer is completely melted.  Serve with crackers or small slices of bread. 

This dip is easy to throw together and was a huge hit at our Superbowl party, which is good since the game was boring.  I did a basic pepperoni dip but feel free to add whatever pizza toppings your family loves.  This dip goes a long way and is ooey gooey goodness.  

Pizza sticks

Review by Lyndee:

We love pizza at our house.  Any form of it.  My step-daughter loves making these and she’s not big on cooking. So I thought I would give it a try the other night.  It’s like a mozzarella stick and a pizza roll had a baby.  Minimal ingredients and they taste great.  A fun, quick and easy to make twist on pizza. 

Ingredients:

Egg or spring roll wrappers

String cheese

Pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni)

Egg white

Place 3 or 4 pepperonis in the middle of an egg roll wrapper, so that they run corner to corner.  Set mozzarella stick on top.  Roll tightly and use a beaten egg white to seal the wrapper together.  Place in fryer or bake until golden brown and crispy and cheese is beginning to bubble out. 

Pizza Rolls

Review by Lyndee:

Ingredients: 

1 frozen bread dough (thawed)

Pepperoni

Shredded cheese

Italian seasoning

Garlic powder

Spray a frozen loaf of bread with nonstick spray and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Allow dough to thaw for a few hours at room temperature. Roll dough out to approximately 11 x 11 square. Lay pepperoni on dough covering entire surface. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle on Italian seasoning and garlic powder.  Start at one edge of square and roll up dough.  Brush some melted butter on the top and sprinkle with garlic. 

Bake at 375 degreees for 15-25 minutes (until top turns golden brown). 

This was easy to make and tasted pretty good.  I wanted sauce though.  I dipped it in some marinara but next time I would add it to the dough before putting on the pepperoni and cheese.  You could add whatever ingredients you wanted (other meats, veggies, etc) to customize your pizza roll.  I cut my roll in half before baking.  One bread dough made enough for three-four people.