How to Add Pizzazz To A Cheap Pizza

Have you seen the price of order out pizzas lately? Phew! Try this simple way to dress up just about any frozen pizza and see how much better it can be than a delivered pizza! Not only better tasting but a whole lot cheaper! Talk about having the pizza you really want, the way you want it! Here's how you do it...

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• On sale frozen pizza of your choice or try this with your fav frozen pizza brand!
• Sliced pepperoni - 1/4 to 1/2 the pack
• Ham - 1/4 to 1/2 cup diced
• Ground pork - 1/2 to 1 pound
• 2 teaspoons Italian spices
• Chopped onions - 1/2 cup
• Mushrooms - 1/2 cup sliced
• Red and green peppers - 1/2 cup
• Mozzarella or Italian 3 cheese - 1/2 to 1 pound shredded
• Olives - Green and/or black 1/4 to 1/2 cup

1. Choose your favorite style of pizza - thin crust, oven rising, thick crust, Chicago style, or garlic bread. Any type will work! I've gotten really cheap oven rising pizzas from Aldi's and they turned out fantastic - but beware, if the sauce or crust is lousy, it ruins the pizza! Even a higher priced frozen pizza can stand some pizazz!
2. Decide what you would like to add. Every extra ingredient is optional! How much you put on is also optional! If you only want pepperoni, ham, onions, peppers, mushrooms, olives and/or extra cheese, you are ready to build your pizza.
3. If you want sausage on your pizza, you'll need to brown it first. Brown it quickly without stirring very often so the meat will stay a bit chunky. Drain off any excess fat. Add the Italian spices and stir in. If you like your onions softer, add them to the meat with the spices. I often get whole mushrooms and slice them thick to add them into the mix at this stage. Brown while moving the mix around just a minute more. Turn off heat and let it sit.
4. Now to build your pizza...... Get the pizza(s) out of it's box and off the cardboard. Place on cookie or baking sheet or pizza pan - whatever you care to call it. A baking sheet makes it easier even if you are going to bake it right on the rack - if you don't have one of those pizza peels.
5. Here's where it all comes together.... Add the meats or meat mixture you'd like. Add the peppers, olives, and onions if you want them. Add the cheeses. We love the cheese - smiling!
6. Follow the cooking directions but plan on leaving it in up to five minutes longer. Always check at the recommended time though - better to see that it needs more time than see it go into the garbage or the dog's food. (I recommend cutting a bad pizza up and adding maybe a half cup of chopped pizza to dry dog food each day til the pizza is gone - keeps your dog's diet balanced.)

Tips & Warnings

• Buy peppers on sale. Cut out the whitish membranes and seeds and rinse them, then slice or cut in chunks. Freeze in good freezer bags. When you need some for pizza, grab a handful from the bag and put on pizza. (Also a great idea for any recipe you need chunks of peppers for if there is a short amount of cooking time.)
• The more you stir while browning the meat, the smaller it crumbles. Very little stirring while browning gives you near meatball style browned meat - so if making spaghetti sauce, add herbs and a bit of bread crumbs to make easy, though uneven meat balls!
• You can use Italian sausage too but you must pre-cook it after slicing it or taking the skin off and browning like hamburger.
• You can buy Pizza sausage instead of plain pork but it is more expensive per pound. Adding the Italian spices is really the difference between the two.
• When baking two pizzas at a time, they seem to cook differently than just one - they don't get as crispy. Try to use round baking sheets so you can bake the pizzas on the same rack. If not, half-way through the baking time, swap the lower pizza to the top and the top pizza to the bottom rack and turn them around 180.
• Use a baking sheet if you want the pizzas softer and no baking sheet if you want them crisper but be prepared - these most likely will drip onto the bottom of the oven without a baking sheet or something to catch the drips.
• As always, when using my recipes, do not invite the Food Police to dinner!