by Charlotte Fraise

Created on: July 10, 2008

When I hear "Quick and easy pizza" I think first of one time when I was really craving pizza, yet had no money to really splurge and order delivery or take out from the local pizza parlor. So, I explored my cabinets, pantry and freezer till I came up with the below spur of the moment "recipe" for "Cravings Pizza".

First, you will need either a whole pita pocket, or if you can't find that in your kitchen, try a English muffin, fajitas/taco shells or even biscuit dough in tubes or box. Place the crust ingredient in or on a greased/cooking sprayed pan.

Then, toast the bread ingredient for about 2 to 4 minutes at 400 degrees to harden it just a little for the sauce.

Next, add either tomato paste, canned pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce (which I actually prefer) or even white sauce if using a seafood or chicken ingredient.

Add any other ingredients you have handy... fresh hamburger or frozen patties broke into pieces if no fresh available, chicken and BBQ sauce, or ham with pineapple, sauerkraut, pepperoni or even tuna or other seafood and white sauce if during lent.

Add any veggies you have handy like mushrooms, onions, onion flakes, peppers, or a frozen mixture if nothing else is handy. Add spices such as hot peppers, oregano, garlic powder etc.

Now, for the main ingredient, add as much cheese, and as many types of cheese as you want. It can be grated, American cheese or any sort of slices. This to me is the main part of a pizza!

Bake it at about 400 degrees for about 10 - 20 minutes depending on which toppings/bread you use. At least till the cheese is nice and bubbly. In the microwave, nuke it till the cheese is good an melted. Let sit for a couple minutes before digging in and enjoying.

Try to keep some staples on hand in case an emergency craving like this pops up. I would suggest items such as:

Bread Ingredients: Pita Pockets, biscuit dough in tubes, dry biscuit mix, fajitas, frozen English muffins, boxed pizza mix, and frozen bread dough.

Sauce: Spaghetti sauce, flour and milk for white sauce, tomato paste, canned pizza sauce, or even ketchup for a real emergency.

Meat: Frozen or canned chicken, frozen sausage rolls, sausage patties, fresh hamburger, frozen hamburger patties, ( I like to buy fresh hamburger, then fry and crumble a whole package for freezing to be added to pizza, chili, spaghetti etc), shrimp, pepperoni, and ham.

Veggies: Canned or fresh mushrooms, green peppers frozen or fresh, onions either fresh or dried, artichokes, pineapple, frozen, onion rings, or anything else you crave.

Cheese: Shredded of any kind, sliced of any kind, blocks you can slice, Parmesan or other dried cheese, even processed cheese food in a pinch.

In other words, just pretty much use everything except the kitchen sink to come up with the main 4 ingredients of pizza: bread, sauce, toppings and cheese. At least it will tame that craving until you can actually get that "store bought" pizza.

I hope this has helped with some quick and easy pizza ideas! Enjoy!

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