Main Dishes Archives

Homemade Pizza Rolls

I have made fresh bread for our family for many years now, and the recipe I use (the Bread Beckers’ Basic Dough recipe) makes two, one-pound loaves. Depending on the week’s meal plan, sometimes I only need one of the two loaves. Sometimes I share the second loaf with friends or neighbors, and sometimes I use the other dough on something a little different. In this case, I decided to make homemade pizza rolls!

This recipe works with any dough recipe that you’d normally use to make loaf bread. You basically need one pound of dough. If your normal dough recipe is something than a single pound, keep that in mind. Like me, you may choose to make one loaf of bread and these homemade pizza rolls. It’s your dough – do your thing. 😉

I made one loaf of bread like usual, then took the other half of the dough and rolled it out like I was going to make cinnamon rolls. I then sprinkled it with pizza toppings (minus sauce), rolled it up and cut it into slices. Place the slices onto a baking sheet and let them rise about 15 minutes. Then bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Cool slightly and serve warm with pizza sauce.

If you’re already making dough – this is how you can get some extra bonus super-cool mom points from your kids. Just sayin’. WE ALL LOVE THESE – and this recipe is a great way to whip up a quick lunch if your kids are also Hoover vacuums. I usually serve the pizza rolls with some sort of veggie and add some fruit on the side.

Print Recipe

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time30 mins

Servings: 4 people

Equipment

oven

Ingredients

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pack pepperoni
misc. pizza toppings

Instructions

Make your bread dough as usual, separate one pound
roll out flat, as though you're prepping for cinnamon rolls
add any desired cheese and pizza toppings (no sauce)
roll (like cinnamon rolls), then slice into approximately 1" thick slices
lay slices on baking sheet and allow to rise approximately 15 minutes
bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes

Baked Potato Nachos

My hobby, during the hotter months of the year, is to avoid turning on the oven whenever possible. However, the people like to eat in our home – and they LOVE nachos. Baked potato nachos are super easy, and a nice alternative to the standard pub fare. That said, you have permission to save this recipe until it’s not the temperature of Hades each day if you feel like I do about using the oven during summertime.

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Cornbread Salad

You know how you have those pivotal moments in life? Moments that you remember with astonishing clarity? In my life, I have a few of those moments. One of them was all about Cornbread Salad. I remember where I was, the table, my plate… I remember it all. That Cornbread Salad changed my life. From hence forth, I was a Cornbread Salad connoisseur.
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10 Portable Meals On-the-Go to Save Time and Money

In the Spring of 2014 we officially became a soccer family. And you know what time spring soccer games for 9 year old girls happen? If you guessed dinnertime, you are right! As a mom, and a frugal mom at that, I quickly realized that if we were going to avoid the Taco Bell Drive-Thru, I was going to have to think ahead and get some portable meals going.

Seriously, it adds up going through the drive-thru. Don’t deceive yourself thinking that you are buying something from the dollar menu. Each and every dollar adds up. You get in debt dollar by dollar, and you also get out of debt dollar by dollar. You can go buy a pack of tortillas, and a can of beans for a couple of dollars. And even though you can buy these foods pre-made, if you use these convenience foods to make burritos, it is WAY cheaper than buying a bean burrito at a fast food restaurant. You could make about 10 burritos for the cost it takes you to buy 2 or 3 in the drive-thru. [Read more…]

20 Frugal Real-Food Chicken Dinner Recipes

Post by Contributing Author, Jessica Smartt from Smartter Each Day

Do you like chicken but don’t want to break the bank? Read on for some yummy AND FRUGAL real-food chicken dinner recipes!

Y’all, there are some things I don’t mind spending money on. Every five years, I have an absolute breakdown and go spend some major birthday money on clothes that fit the body I actually have at that point. Also, date nights…Even if our budget gets very tight, we will scrimp and save to spend time together – eating, most likely. Because date nights together are that important.

But I will tell you something I do NOT like to splurge on.

It’s chicken, y’all. Whenever I see meals calling for prosciutto, and two and a half large chicken breasts PER PERSON, stuffed with some rare French cheese and umpteen fresh herbs…I click that ol’ browser shut as fast as I can. I’m sure it’s delicious, but I cannot afford to serve every member of my family three pounds of chicken in one sitting! No way. [Read more…]

How to Cook a Whole Chicken in a Pressure Cooker {video}

Whoop! I told you in the pressure cooker post that I wanted to do three more videos where I showed you exactly how to use each cooker. And behold! I got one done! I hate stuff hanging over my head…so – one down, two more to go!

In this video I show you how to cook a whole chicken in a pressure cooker. I’m using a 6 quart Fissler pressure cooker on a Duxtop Induction Burner.

I used this general recipe from Food.com for a Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken. The only difference is that I only browned it on the breast side for 7 minutes and flipped it over THEN put the lid on – instead of browning it on all sides. Also, I let my pressure fall naturally instead of doing the quick-release method. [Read more…]

How to Get Three Meals from One Chicken

A long while back, when I conquered my fear of cooking a whole, naked chicken in the crock pot (Crock Pot Baked Chicken), I felt like the world opened up to me! Behold! All those glorious Pinterest recipes calling for 2 cups cooked chicken would no longer add 20 minutes on to making a meal! A whole neeeeeeeeeeew worlddddddddddddddddddd! Come with me on my magic carpet.

So, today we’re talking chicken – and how you can make three meals from one chicken. That’s right – ONE whole chicken to make three meals. First off, let’s clear the air: I’m only feeding 2 adults and 4 small children people. So, if you’re feeding more than that, you might only be able to get two meals.

Honestly, we don’t eat a lot of meat. I I try to make sure vegetables and healthy whole grains are a bigger part of our diet than meat…mainly because I’m stinking’ ~~cheap~~ frugal. And high quality meat can get expensive! [Read more…]

100 Days of Meal Plans – Whole Foods Style (for FREE)

So, I have this thing I like do to do in my spare time…it’s called – planning meals. Yeah, okay. Stop your laughing. Some people knit. Some people sew. Some people play sports. I read cookbooks and dream up meal plans. I’m a wild and crazy girl.

You already know how much I love Plan to Eat. But what you don’t know is that planning meals is one of the highlights of my week. I also enjoy making beds, ironing clothes, and de-boogering my children. Gosh…I AM a weirdo.

But something I’ve learned is that not everyone enjoys de-boogering their children with a Nose Frida – and not everyone enjoys making their bed daily – and some people don’t even own an iron (THE HORROR!). And the most crazy thing of all is….some of you hate making meal plans! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Cue the freaky scary movie music! What is wrong with you people!? [Read more…]

Postpartum Freezer Meals List

My friend Erinn from Embracing Everything asked for a list of the freezer meals that I used after this pregnancy, so I thought it might be helpful to a few other people as well. Why kill two birds with one stone when there are eggs in your bush that you shouldn’t count?

I started too late preparing for Eli Benjamin. I felt like doo-doo for most of the pregnancy, so I blame it on that. In all honesty, you should start prepping freezer meals in the middle of your second trimester. Most meals and foods will be fine for 6 months in the freezer. Even starting late, I managed to get quite a bit put away. I used a lot of meal components this time so I would be able to throw a meal together quickly instead of making a vast amount of fully cooked meals.

Also, 4 weeks before my due date, I made a HUGE shopping trip and stocked up on everything I might need: snacks, condiments, nuts, butter, etc. After my babies are born, I don’t get out much…I usually take a 2 month hiatus from shopping and gallivanting around the countryside. My mom went with me on this trip and I literally filled the car up with supplies and groceries. [Read more…]

Crock Pot Cheesy Sausage Rotini

This isn’t my normal crock pot style of recipe. Most of the time you’ll find me using recipes that cook at least 4 hours and most of the time mine run about 8 hours. Honestly, I want my food to cook for 8 hours so I’ll have 8 hours to do stuff – 8 hours to go away. 8 hours to clean. 8 hours to be free from dinner. 8 hours so I’m less likely to burn it to a bloody pulp. But this is one of those pasta recipes that is a little different.

You’ll find this particular dish is done in only 2-3 hours. So, what on earth is the point? You could easily make this in a pot on your stovetop and be done in 30 minutes. Why would you want to pull out your crock, dirty it up, and be done in only 2 hours? [Read more…]