Spaghetti Pepperoni Pie

I am always looking for new recipes to try for lunches.  Recently I purchased a package of pepperoni that was near its sell-by date for half off.

I remembered a recipe I had clipped from a Family Circle magazine some time ago.  I made a few adaptations and made the recipe for lunch.  We liked it, and I think it is a dish that would appeal to kids.

Turkey pepperoni can be used in this dish.  I don’t care for it, so I degrease regular pepperoni using the microwave.  I have included the directions to do that in the recipe.

Spaghetti Pepperoni Pie
1/2 lb. spaghetti, broken into thirds
1/3 c. dry bread crumbs
2 T. grated parmesan cheese (the shelf stable kind)
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
4 oz. sliced pepperoni (may use turkey pepperoni if desired)
1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 T. grated parmesan cheese

Prepare spaghetti according to package directions, cooking for 8 minutes.  Drain spaghetti and set aside.  Meanwhile, combine  bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning in a small bowl and mix well.  Pour into the bottom of a 10-inch pie pan and spread evenly.  Set aside.  Line a microwave-safe plate with a paper towel.  Place pepperoni slices on a plate as you would for a pizza.  Cover with another paper towel.  Add another layer of pepperoni slices.  Cover with another paper towel.  Repeat one more time.  Cover with a paper towel.  Place plate in microwave and microwave on high about 30 seconds.  Pat top paper towel to help it absorb excess grease from pepperoni.  Stack 5 or 6 slices of pepperoni and cut into quarters with kitchen shears.  Repeat with remaining pepperoni.  Add pepperoni, spaghetti sauce and 1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese to spaghetti.  Mix well.   Add eggs and mix until very well blended.  Carefully turn spaghetti mixture into bread crumb lined pie pan.  Spread spaghetti evenly.  Place in a 350-degree oven and bake 30 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and the 3 T. grated parmesan cheese over the top of spaghetti.  Bake 10 minutes for or until cheese has melted.  Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes.  Cut pie into 6 wedges.  Serves 6.

 Linking to:  Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Must Try Monday

Mop It Up Monday

Making Monday Marvelous

Made by You Monday

Mangia Monday

This Week's Cravings

Hunk of Meat Monday

Crazy Cooking Challenge-Loaded Pizza Grilled Cheese

 When I saw that grilled cheese was the topic for May’s Crazy Cooking Challenge, I knew that I wanted to do something pizza inspired.  I found a recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese at Never Enough Thyme.  I wanted a few more things in my sandwich so here is my take on that recipe.

Lana made a compound butter.  I did, too, but added garlic powder to mine, used Italian seasonings instead of oregano, and used 1/4 c. parmesan cheese.

I make my own no cook pizza sauce so I made up a recipe of that.  If I have leftover pizza sauce, I put it in ice cube trays and freeze i.  I put the frozen in a freezer bag; and when I want just a little pizza sauce, I put them in a bowl and thaw in the microwave. 

Besides cheese and pepperoni, I wanted Italian sausage, olives and green onion in my sandwich.  I browned up a pound of Italian sausage, drained it and blotted it with paper towels.  That is the amount that I had on hand so there was extra sausage.  I divided it into 1/4 c. amounts, put that in snack bags and put them into a freezer bag for the freezer.

I like to degrease my pepperoni so I put the amount needed for the sandwich between two pieces of paper towel and microwave it for 5 seconds.

A sturdy bread is needed to hold all the filling in this sandwich.  I used a multi-grain bread in my sandwich, but any favorite sturdy bread can be used.

I found a mozzarella/ provolone cheese blend at my local grocery store.  They had both sliced and shredded, and it was BOGO so I got both.  I ended up using the shredded.

Although I did not do it when I made this sandwich, I like Lana’s idea to brown the sandwich on both sides and then put it in a 325 degree oven to finish melting the cheese.  I think this would be good to do when making a number of sandwiches at a time.

Italian Garlic and Cheese Butter
!/2 c. butter, softened
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese (shelf stable)

Combine ingredients and mix well.  Chill to let the flavors blend but bring to room temperature to spread on your sandwich.  Makes about 3/4 c.

No Cook Pizza Sauce
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 t. sugar or to taste
1 t. dry oregano
1/2 t. marjoram
1/2 t. basil
1/2 t. garlic salt or 1/4 t. each garlic powder and salt

Combine ingredients and let set at least one hour to let flavors blend.  If using sooner than that I would heat the mixture until it boils and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.  Makes 1 cup.

To make one sandwich:
2 slices bread of choice
2 T. Italian Garlic and Cheese Butter
2 T. pizza sauce
enough pepperoni slices to cover 1 slice of bread, usually 5 to 6
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. Italian sausage, cooked
sliced ripe olives as desired
sliced green onion as desired

Place pizza slices between two layers of paper towel and microwave 5 seconds to degrease and cook slightly.  Set aside.  Place a skillet over medium heat and start  heating it up.  Spread one side of one slice of bread with about 1 T. butter mixture.  Place in skillet.  Spread about 1 T. pizza sauce on the other side of bread.  Arrange pizza slices on the bread.  Top  with the cheese.  Sprinkle the Italian sausage over the cheese.  Top with the amount of sliced ripe olives and green onions desired.  Spread remaining pizza sauce on second slice of bread.  Place bread on sandwich and spread remaining butter on the top side.  Press down lightly to help keep ingredients together.  Continue cooking on first side until bread is as brown as you like.  Turn sandwich and cook on second side until it is as brown as you like and cheese has melted.  Remove sandwich to a plate, cut it in half and enjoy.  Makes 1 sandwich.

Come and join in for next month's challenge.  You can get all the details at Tina's Mom's Crazy Cooking blog.

Linking to:  Crazy Cooking Challenge

1-Dish Meat Lovers' Pizza Bake

I  am so excited!  I managed to edit the HTML for this blog to add a button for PrintFriendly.  I have never done anything with HTML before.  Of course, it was just a copy and paste thing, but I feel so empowered.  It kind of makes up for my stubbed toe (see previous post.)

Now, if you want to print a post, you can just click the print/PDF button below the post.  It will bring up a page where you can delete the photos and any parts of the post you do not want.  You do need to be on the post's separate page, not on the home page.  (See a more thorough explanation here.)  You can then print or save it as a PDF.  Pretty cool, I think, and I use it all the time.

Fleischmann's Yeast has a web site call Breadworld.com.  They have a category there called 1-Dish that has 39 main dish and dessert recipes that can be made in less than an hour.  I often use recipes from there for our lunches.  I made this dish this week but used all Italian sausage.  The crust for this is more like a biscuit crust.  We prefer our crusts thin, so I halve the dough ingredients.  I make my own pizza sauce and have included the recipe below.  I used a 9-inch round pie pan instead of a square pan.

1-Dish Meat-Lovers' Pizza Bake
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 envelopes Fleischmann's RapidRise Yeast
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
3/4 cup very warm water (120° - 130°F)
1/4 c. olive oil

Meat Filling
1/2 pound lean ground beef, cooked
1/2 pound Italian sausage, cooked and drained
1 can (8 ounces) pizza sauce

Toppings
12 to 18 pepperoni slices (about 1-inch diameter)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/2 teaspoon Italian Herb Blend

Mix dough ingredients together in a pre-sprayed 8x8-inch baking dish.  Stretch dough out to cover the bottom and sides of dish.  Combine meat filling ingredients and place on dough in pan.  Evenly distribute pepperoni slices over meat; sprinkle with cheese and herbs.  Bake by placing in a COLD oven; set temperature to 350 degrees; bake 30 minutes.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Pizza Sauce-supposed to be like Pizza Hut's
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 t. dried oregano

1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. dried marjoram
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 t. sugar

Combine and let set for an hour to allow flavors to blend or place ingredients in a small saucepan and cook 10-15 minutes.


Linking to Full Plate Thursday and I'm Lovin' It
Ingredient Spotlight

Tomorrow:  Friday Finds and Frugal Tips