Pizza Party, 14 Unique Recipes

 

Labor Day is right around the corner. If you're not sure how that happened so quickly, join the party.

Actually, it's a party I wanted to talk about. Specifically, a pizza party.

Pizza is versatile in so many ways. It's a party food, yet an everyday food as well. Lunch, dinner, even cold leftovers for breakfast (yes, I went to college too). In fact, one brilliant pizza shop hired students to drag a huge box full of pizzas through the dorms at about 11:00 at night, when everyone would be hungry from a night of studying {{wink, wink}}. As the pizza shop employee dragged his box through the halls yelling "hot pizza, 2 dollars," students would pick a friend, count their pennies (sometimes literally) and split a pizza.

These days you'd be lucky to get a slice of pizza for $2. Yeah, we still buy them now and then, but making them at home is a great option. And you can really get creative.

So, for any occasion: first day of school, last day of school, sports parties, family get-togethers, a lazy weekend watching sports, if you want to start a party, pizza's a great way to go.

It doesn't have to be complicated, that's the thing about pizza, anything goes. Use a frozen bread dough, a premade crust, a homemade no yeast crust (like my rosemary infused crust), or a completely unique crust (you have to try my spaghetti crust). Use my homemade marinara, or your favorite store bought. And the toppings? There's where you can really have fun, the options are endless.

And don't just think of pizza in its traditional configuration. There's pizza inspired casseroles, and even soup.

Today I want to share with you, 14 of my most fun, interesting, and unique pizza recipe creations. Check them out, click on the name of the recipe below and you will magically jump to the post featuring the recipe at the end.

Classic pizza reinterpreted, dessert pizza, pizza imposters, and pizza inspired, something for everyone:

Top row, left to right:

~ Rosemary Infused Shrimp Scampi Pizza

The rosemary infused crust adds even more flavor to this classic dinner inspired pizza. 

~ Spaghetti Crusted Pizza

Can't decide between spaghetti and pizza? Have them both. This is one of my most popular pizza recipes.

~ Pizza Party Boat

Take a large Italian loaf, season the "crust," and fill it with pizza favorites.

~ Skillet Buffalo Chicken Naan Pizza

This Buffalo Chicken inspired pizza is made in a skillet with a naan crust.

Middle row, left to right:

~ Peanut Butter and Jelly Dessert Pizza

Pizza as a dessert, as a snack? Yes, please.

~ Crockpot Pepperoni Pizza Soup

We just love this pepperoni pizza inspired soup on a cold fall day.

Bottom row, left to right:

~ Grilled Steak and Pepper Pizza

Grill your pizza. It adds so much flavor. This one is pepper steak inspired.

~ Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

Have your pizza in casserole form, a comfort food family favorite dinner.

~ Italian Sub Pizza

I used a purchased prepared pizza crust for this one, and added all of our Italian sub favorite ingredients on the top.

~ Garlic Bread Pizza Casserole

Garlic bread gives so much flavor to this pizza casserole.

And just for fun:

~ Celebration Dessert Pizza

Serving as a treat, an educational tool, and a project, I made this one for Earth day with my son. But it can easily be decorated for any occasion.

~ Chocolate Pizza with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

I guess I don't have to tell you that this recipe was created for the boys and their friends for a Halloween party.

~ April Fools Peanut Butter and Jelly Pizza Cookie

This peanut butter and jelly flavored giant cookie looks like a pizza, right? April Fools!

~ Down the Drain (April Fools) Pizza Cookie

OK, ewwww. But really, April Fools is a perfect day for ewww jokes, right?

Which ones will you try? And which one will you try first?

When Eight is Three: Word Counters

 

 Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks  a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with. 

This month's number is 17. It was chosen by Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings. 

 

As I've been doing in these Word Counters posts, I've chosen a theme and am using my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. Last month I talked about what happens when I sleep. This month, I'm sharing a bit about what happens when I don't {{sigh}}.

~ I write a monthly post called Fly on the Wall in which I share humorous life tidbits.

 

~ It's one of my most popular posts, an opportunity to laugh at our conversations, situations and interactions.

 

~ Sometimes, though, circumstances that might be funny spread out, are less funny when stuffed into one day. 

~ It started with(out) glasses. Woke, saw it was 8:40, went downstairs, seems that 8 was a 3.

~ Back up to bed, but once up I couldn't fall back asleep, head full of chores, recipes . . .

Italian Sub Pizza

~ I'll try the old "read yourself to sleep." Nope, Kindle battery dead, iPad back downstairs, cell charging . . .

 

~ Hours of checking the clock, not sure whether to believe what I see, and my glasses? Downstairs. 

~ The day went as expected when sleep deprived. Laundry without detergent, over watered plants, walking into walls . . .

~ And damn, my turn to cook dinner (it always is). Those middle of the night recipes? Forgotten.

~ Note to self: new plan, no getting out of bed until the sun is blinding my eyes. 

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Italian Sub Pizza       

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
12 inch pizza crust

1/3 cup marinara sauce

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup provolone, chopped

1/4 cup black forest ham, chopped

1/4 cup pepperoni, chopped

1/4 cup salami, chopped

1/4 of an onion, sliced

1 dill pickle, sliced

1/4 cup pepperoncini, sliced (can use banana peppers)

1/4 cup black olives, pitted and sliced

2 TBSP grated parmesan

Directions:
*Grease a pizza pan. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

*Spread the sauce over the crust, leaving a 1/2 inch edge. 

*Sprinkle with the mozzarella and provolone cheeses, followed by the meats, then the onion, pickle slices, banana peppers, and finally the black olives. Sprinkle with the parmesan.

*Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the bottom of the crust has browned.

Her Time. Chapter Two: Leader of the Flight

I'm sharing another Progressive Story Project post today. Just as a reminder, this is the 8th time a group of bloggers have joined together to write a piece of fiction. We all contribute to the story, each building on the segments written by the others. Above and to the far right of each section, I've listed the name and a link to the blog of the author of that piece of the story.

One week ago I posted the first chapter of our newest story, Her Time. Today's post is chapter two of Her Time. If you haven't already done so, be sure to read:
Her Time. Chapter One: Out of Focus

Her Time
Chapter Two: Leader of the Flight

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade

Michael stood over Camryn praying she'd open her eyes. The test revealed nothing. The doctors were completely stumped. Just that she had been deposited at the ED three nights ago.

Scratching his head, Michael said, "where were you, why were you out at night and in the rain? Oh how I wish you'd open your eyes and answer me." 

At that moment a young girl walked in. "How's our leader doing?" Startled, Michael said "uh um, what, who are you referring to?"

She smiled and disappeared. Damn, he needed sleep. He was hallucinating, or was he? He could smell a faint perfume or soap, it felt familiar yet strange.

Camryn moaned and said "flight". Michael patted her hand, her face, but no response. He rang for the nurse. Upon arrival he told her all that had transpired in the last thirty minutes. She nodded and said "it's almost time" and was gone.

"Almost time for what? What are you people talking about?" Michael almost screamed down the hall, and then his phone went DING. Damn, a text, now what?

It read . . . "meet me on 23rd street at midnight and all will be revealed. Be prepared to take flight."

What the???

Camryn stirred again. "Flight." "Leader." "Get ready."

He was so confused.

Thunder struck and she jumped almost off the bed. Camryn sat up. Looked around the dark room. She let out a sigh of relief. Michael lay next to her, the dog at the foot of the bed. Man, what a crazy dream.

She laid back down and her phone said DING. She was hesitant but picked it up. The text read . . . "We are ready leader. Flight."

She almost passed out. Holy crap! maybe it wasn't a dream. What the hell was going on? She was scad and exhilarated at the same time.

This was her path. Her passion had come to her. Her reason for being. She was to be the leader of Flight, whatever that meant.

Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

Jenniy of Climaxed

She couldn't sleep. She knew it was a fruitless endeavor as soon as she read the text. She felt electric. Alive. She hadn't felt this way in so long . . . maybe ever? She leaned her head back on the pillow looking over at the lump that was her sleeping husband and listening to the dog snore. It wasn't that she hadn't been happy before. She loved Michael. She loved their life together. But now? Now she had this mystery to solve, this purpose that hadn't been there. And how would she ever explain it to him without sounding like she was losing her mind? She knew that wasn't true; she wasn't crazy. She could feel in every fiber of her being that whatever this Flight was, it was hers. It was her past, present, and future rolled into one, and now she just had to figure out exactly what it all meant.

She got up from him quietly and called for the dog. No reason to call, really. Shelby was her baby and always had been from the minute they'd seen her in the shelter. They had a connection that was truly unexplainable. So before she could even get her name out, the dog was at her heels ready for whatever adventure lay ahead. 

She and Shelby padded quietly into the kitchen to start some coffee and make some kind of plan.

Going through the motions helped her think. Camryn could probably make herself a cup of coffee in her sleep and probably had when the kids were younger and she had run solely on hope and caffeine. There were many long nights she couldn't recall having done it at all and still found herself sipping and thinking and daydreaming while she rocked and played and prayed for a long nap later.

Two spoonfuls of sugar and more creamer than most would find respectable.

While she stirred and waited for the nectar of the gods to cool off enough to keep from burning her tongue, she had a thought. She still had some of her great grandmother's things in the attic, things that looked too old and too important to throw away when her mother had helped clean out GG's house to sell and had been passed on to Camryn when her mother died a couple years ago. There were always stories about GG . . . family stories, whispers at family reunions, things only talked  about when there had been too much drink or when someone was beyond other kinds of help.

She'd never really gotten to know her GG, Eloise. Not the way she wanted when she heard the tall tales and whispered secrets. If any place was a good start to find answers, it was in Eloise's things.

She looked up to find Shelby waiting for her underneath the pull cord to the attic by the laundry room . . . that dog always knew what she was thinking. 

Lydia of Cluttered Genius

 Camryn slowly ascended the ladder trying hard to not make any extra noise that might wake Michael. Every creak or groan of the old wood made her cringe. Shelby whined as she watched Camryn go further and further away.

Once in the attic, Camryn wiped cobwebs and dust off of the old trunk that lay in front of her. This was GG's, and it was the one piece she didn't really inspect when they'd brought things home from her mother's. Perhaps an answer was inside.

Fumbling with the front clasp caused her to slice her thumb on the metal. She gasped at the pain and quickly investigated the damage. Blood rose to the surface quickly, so Camryn tucked her thumb into the rest of the hands' fingers to try to stem the flow.

Carefully, and trying to stay as quiet as possible, she lifted the lid of the trunk. Once open, she was confused. The trunk was empty. Surely they didn't transport this heavy furniture all the way up the stairs without it having anything in it besides dust?

She reached her hand down toward the bottom, hoping that maybe it was just so dark she couldn't see. It was deeper than she expected, so she had to let go of her thumb on the opposite hand to steady herself on the side.

What Camryn didn't realize is that with that movement of her injured thumb, two drops of blood fell into the empty trunk.

Suddenly, the ladder to the attic folded up on its own, and the door slammed shut. Camryn was stuck in the dark and wildly began looking around trying to find her footing

She stumbled a few steps back toward the attic opening. As she reached for the folded ladder, light began to glow behind her. Slowly, Camryn turned around.

Jules of The Bergham Chronicles

The once empty chest was lit up with the most peaceful glow she had ever seen. A warm comfort washed over her. On one hand, she knew she should be terrified and most likely should be running away quickly, or at the very least crying out for Michael's help.

Instead, she slowly walked towards the chest, allowing the warm glow to envelope her. She soon stood face to face with a figure she recognized. She had never met the woman who stood before her in person, but she'd seen plenty of photographs, and two paintings of the beautiful woman adorned her study's walls. She knew from family history, passed down from generation to generation, that this was her great, great grandmother. Hyacinth Forsight.

Her memory of the stories her mother had told her had started to fade in recent years, but she knew that Hyacinth had died at a fairly young age. She had married the richest man in their village, and after he died of an illness, she had gone on to raise her children and run her late husband's company.

In that time people could not believe a woman was capable of successfully managing a company, and when she refused to marry any of the suitors who called on her, it was decided she was a witch, using magic to gain success. She fought against her accusers, but was ultimately burned at the stake.

So, how is she here, in my attic, all these decades later?

Hyacinth smiled warmly, her eyes glowing with an almost palpable love. "Come here my child," she said holding out her hand. "Come with me, and Ill tell you everything you need to know, for the task ahead of you is important."

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Click here to read chapter three, Take Off ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Pepperoni Pizza Casserole         
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 packages (about 5 oz each) large Italian flavored croutons
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce, store bought or homemade. My Homemade Marinara recipe HERE
1 3/4 cups shredded mozarella, divided
1/2 cup chopped provolone
2 TBSP grated parmesan
1/4 green pepper, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup pepperoni slices
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning 

Additional warm marinara sauce for serving

Directions:
*Grease a 3 qt round casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Mix together the croutons, marinara, 1 1/4 cups mozarella, provolone, parmesan, mushrooms, green pepper and pepperoni slices. Pour into the casserole dish and spread evenly. 
*Top the casserole with the remaining mozarella cheese. Sprinkle with the Italian seasoning. Bake for 25 minutes, tent tin foil over the top and bake for another 20 minutes.
*Serve with additional warm marinara sauce.

Rosemary Infused Shrimp Scampi Pizza: High Five Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group  of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is High Five Day.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

I made Rosemary Infused Shrimp Scampi Pizza:

Rosemary Infused Shrimp Scampi Pizza

I've talked many times before about how, when we choose themes for this post and for the monthly poetry posts, we often check out the online lists of silly celebrations. I mean, there's only so many times you can interpret "April showers bring May flowers". For our poetry post (mine will be on this blog on Wednesday) we chose Walk on Your Wild Side Day, which is this Thursday. The other option, which was my choice and which lost the vote, I wrote about a few weeks ago in a post I called Found My Day. The vote for today's theme resulted in our taking inspiration from an upcoming "holiday". April 19th is National High Five Day.

You may question how I tied this, how I could associate any recipe really, with High Five Day. Turns out any day that I take the time to think up a new recipe, type it out, shop for the ingredients, take pictures of every step as I make it, adjust the recipe, talk my family into trying it, edit all the pictures . . . and it actually comes out? That, my friends, is my idea of a High Five Day!

I recently got back from vacation and was inspired by the amazing meals I had while visiting Marco Island. I had a lot of sea food, mostly grouper, but enjoyed many variations of Shrimp Scampi, another favorite of mine. On my last night away, at an Italian restaurant, they served hot crusty rolls we dipped in a rosemary infused olive oil. It was delish.

Let me also mention that I have just survived yet another Passover (high five) and am thrilled to be adding breads and shellfish back into my diet. So in honor of doing away with the Passover restrictions and inspired by 2 weeks of vacation time with family, I've created my High Five recipe:

I started by making a simple crust, which I infused with dried Rosemary. It just takes a few ingredients and some muscle. Mix the ingredients and knead. 

Once the dough is ready, I roll it out in a mixture of corn meal and flour:

Next I make the shrimp scampi topping. And force myself not to just eat all the shrimp and call it good. 

I brush the scampi sauce onto the prepared crust. 

Add the rest of the pizza toppings and the shrimp.

Bake until the topping is bubbly and the crust is brown and crunchy.

Slice and serve! The Rosemary in the crust and the scampi on top was the perfect homage to a great vacation. High Five!  

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Five Tips for Happy Parenting.

Jules of The Bergham Chronicles shares High Five - Unique Rewards for kids.

Be sure to stop by again next month for more theme based projects.

Rosemary Infused Shrimp Scampi Pizza

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, chopped
1 TBSP corn meal

  1TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP butter
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1# large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup marinara sauce, my recipe for Homemade Marinara Sauce HERE
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
5 slices provolone cheese
1 cup shredded mozarella cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley flakes

Directions:
*Grease a 16 inch pizza pan.
*Mix together 2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt. Remove 1/3 cup and set aside. To the rest of the flour mixture, add the yogurt and rosemary.
*Sprinkle some of the reserved flour mixture on your counter. Knead the dough, adding more reserved flour mixture as needed for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.
*Sprinkle the corn meal and some of the remaining flour on the counter. Flour your rolling pin with the rest of the flour and roll out to a 16 inch circle. Place on the prepared pizza pan. Tuck under any edges.
*Heat the olive oil with the butter and minced garlic in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add the shrimp in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes. Turn over and cook until pink. Remove to a plate, reserving the scampi liquid.
*Using a pastry brush, brush the pizza crust with the scampi liquid.
*Spread the marinara sauce over the pizza crust. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Place the provolone cheese on the sauce and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Top with the shrimp and sprinkle with garlic powder and parsley flakes.
*Place the pizza pan on the lowest rack of your oven. Turn the oven on to 450 degrees. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is cooked and the bottom of the crust has browned.

Secret Obligation: Secret Subject Swap

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 13 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

My subject is: How good are you at keeping a secret? What if it was a secret that could change someone's opinion or even their life? Would you tell?
It was submitted by: Carol of Never Ever Give Up Hope.


Ah, the naivete of childhood. Secrets were fun. They were a connection, a solidification of a relationship, the epitome of trust. We often shared them, rarely kept them, yet they remained a building block of friendship. It was the sharing more than the keeping. Possibly because ramifications of telling mutual friend X that friend Y was going to have a Barbie birthday party just weren't all that great.

Then we grow up, dammit. And secrets really are just as much about keeping them. They are a solemn obligation, relationships ride on them. And if you tell mutual friend X that friend Y wants to go to second base with popular boy Z who friend Y had secretly told also mutual friend W (but not you) that she had planned to go to second base with same aforementioned popular boy Z? You can cause the kind of embarrassment that can be a high school catastrophe. Or world war three.

And then, if we survive those years, we really grow up. Fortunately there are fewer secrets told, but those that are have the potential to become a moral conundrum.

We're not talking about giving away the secret ingredient in a recipe (although there are, decidedly, those who would kill for less).

Spaghetti Crusted Pizza

No, what the prompt asks is what I would do if the secret, when divulged, would change someone's opinion, or even their life. And I have a quick answer to the opinion question. I would not divulge a secret just to change how someone feels. If I really felt, for any reason, that I should take it upon myself to change their views, I'd just have to look for another way to do it. 

Would I tell a secret to change someone's life? That's a hard one. To save someone's life is a no-brainer, but to change it? That needs to be considered on a case by case basis. And I have to say that if I'm put in this situation, there could well be an erosion in my relationship with the person who told me the secret because they have effectively yanked me up from my innocent oblivion and dropped me down into a mine field.

I have a very strict moral code. I believe that someone's personal information, even if they choose to share it with me, is theirs. Trust is a building block of relationships and is, once lost, incredibly difficult to regain.

I wrote a post in 2012. It was cathartic, it's about a serious subject that has and continues to have a profound impact on my life. But it includes information that I really feel is not mine to share. I spoke to the person involved and was given permission to publish the post. I still haven't. Would it bring about a change? A realization that something needs to change? Maybe. But somewhere in my heart I feel like it betrays a trust, crosses a line I can't scurry back over. I don't delete that draft either. Maybe some day I will post it, but it's taking years of careful consideration. As this kind of a situation should.

One of my sons told me a secret about 3 years ago. It was a confidence that hurt me in more ways than one. The most difficult facet of this situation is having to keep it from everyone, even my husband. It did not weaken my relationship with my son because . . . he's my son. He rarely lets people in so I know what it took for him to divulge, but I carry the burden of possible ramifications if it ever comes out with the understanding that I'd known. Nonetheless, I decided to err on the side of my own morality. If I have to answer for it, I will.

Bottom line is this, unless it's a life or death situation, I don't think I would tell someone else's secret. But I also have to say that we are all acutely aware that keeping a secret has the potential to be a burden. What we need to spend more time considering is the ramifications that sharing a confidence can have for the person in whom we've confided. It is a responsibility too. One we should not take lightly.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Cognitive Script

The Blogging 911  

The Lieber Family Blog

 The Bergham Chronicles

Simply Shannon

Southern Belle Charm
Never Ever Give Up Hope
The Angrivated Mom  
Not That Sarah Michelle
Bookworm in the Kitchen 
Part-time Working Hockey Mom
Climaxed

Spaghetti Crusted Pizza

                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe 


Ingredients:

1# spaghetti,broken into thirds, cooked and drained
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
2 eggs
10 slices provolone cheese
1 1/2 cups Homemade Marinara Sauce
1 cup shredded mozarella
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
1 TBSP dried parsley flakes
pizza toppings of your choice

Directions:
*Grease a metal pizza pan without holes in the bottom. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
*Mix together the chopped cooked spaghetti, butter, 1/2 cup of parmesan, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Allow to cool slightly, then mix in the eggs. Pat evenly onto the prepared pan.
*Cover the spaghetti with the slices of provolone cheese. Spread the marinara sauce over the cheese. Sprinkle with the shredded mozarella.
*Mix together the ricotta cheese, the remaining 2 TBSP grated parmesan and the parsley flakes. Dollop onto the the pizza. Add the pizza toppings of your choice.
*Cook for 20 - 30 minutes until the crust starts to brown and the toppings are cooked and the cheese is melted.