Pizza Potato Lasagna

Gluten-free, vegetarian, tasty, filling, and healthy!  Awesome!

This big-batch lunch recipe will fill you up, keep you healthy, and keep your budget on track.  There’s nothing like a hint of pizza along with the home-feeling of potatoes, all put together in delicious cheesy lasagna-style layers.

Make this for some easy suppers, or for your lunches at work, or to feed a handful of company!

This takes awhile to make but it’s not hard to make.

Here’s what you need to make Pizza Potato Lasagna:

• About 6-8 big potatoes, washed
• 1/2 a white onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1 good chunk of mozzarella cheese
• 1 good chunk of cheddar cheese
• 1 big jar of your favorite tomato pizza sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic
• some cooking spray

  Here’s how to make it:

1.  Boil the potatoes until they are soft, which will probably take 25-30 minutes.  If the potatoes are really big, cut them in half before you boil them.  Try to make them all similar sizes before you boil them so they cook in the same amount of time.

Boiling potatoes

2.  Once they’re boiled and soft, drain them in the sink and them spread them out on a baking sheet to dry and cool.

Cooling on a baking sheet

3.  Once they’re cooled enough that you can handle them, cut the potatoes into coins, about 1/3 a centimeter thick.  Put your slices on a separate cooking sheet or large plate.

Slicing up the potatoes

Piling the sliced potatoes on a cooking sheet

4.  Chop up the white onion into dices.  You can dice small or large, whichever you like best.

Diced white onion

5.  Dice up the green peppers, again as small or large as you want.

Diced green pepper

6.  Finely slice up the jalapeno and put it all on a plate.

Diced jalapeno

7.  Slice up the tomatoes into any size or shape that you like.  I like thinly-sliced halves.

Tomato slices

8.  Grate up your chunks of cheese.

Grated mozzarella

Grated cheddar

9.  Pour the pizza sauce into a big bowl.

Pizza sauce in a bowl

10.  Mince or use a garlic press to get some minced garlic and add it to the sauce.

Garlic added

11.  Stir it up!

Stirred up

12.  Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Sprayed pan

13.  Put a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the pan.  Do your best to fill it in, using the different-sized potato pieces.

A layer of potatoes

14.  Spoon about 1/3 of the sauce on top of the potatoes and then use the back of a spoon to even it out into a layer.

Globs of pizza sauce on top

Using a spoon to smooth it over

15.  Add a layer of delicious veggies on top.

Adding tomatoes

Adding green pepper

Adding onion

Adding jalapeno!

16.  Add a layer of yummy cheese.

Layer of yummy cheese

17.  Repeat these steps again, starting with the potatoes.

Another potato layer

Pizza sauce, smoothed over

Veggies

Cheese

17.  Put it into a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Going into the oven!

18.  Keep it in the oven until the cheese is nice and gooey and browning… or however you like it!  Let it sit for about five minutes before you dig in.

Perfect!

It’s fabulous!  Enjoy!

Here’s how much it costs to make (6 good servings):

• Potatoes:  $4.00
• Onion:  $0.50
• Green pepper:  $1.00
• Jalapeno:  $0.15
• Tomatoes:  $0.60
• Mozzarella cheese:  $1.50
• Cheddar cheese: $1.50
• Pizza sauce:  $1.50
• Garlic:  $0.15
• Cooking spray:  $0.03

Total cost to make:  $10.93

Total cost per serving:  $1.82

Awesome!

Cheesy!

Here are some other tasty casseroles to try out:

• Cheesy Creamy Tuna Casserole
• Mellow Chicken Casserole

Pizza Bundles

They’re little hand-held pizzas!  These are pretty easy to make and they taste great!  They’re great if you’re having a few friends over for a movie night.  Or you can make them, eat a couple, and have them as snacks for the next couple of days.

The tricky part of this recipe is using the refrigerated crescent roll dough, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.  You also need to cut a few veggies and use the oven.  Try it!

Here’s what you need to make Pizza Bundles:

• 1 package of refrigerated crescent rolls
• A big chunk of mozzarella cheese
• A smaller chunk of cheddar cheese
• 1/3 of a red pepper
• 1/4 of a white onion
• 1/2 of an jalapeno
• 1/3 of a green pepper
• 1 Roma tomato
• 1 small handful of sliced green olives
• 1 small jar of pizza sauce

  Here’s how to make them: 

1.  Grate up about half of the mozzarella cheese so you have about 3/4 of a cup of grated mozzarella cheese.  Then grate the cheddar cheese, so you have about 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese.  Put it all in a bowl and mix it up.

Mixed cheese

2.  Take the other part of the mozzarella chunk and cut it into slices, like in the picture below.

Slices of mozzarella

3.  Dice up the red peppers and put them in a bowl.

Diced red peppers

4.  Dice up the white onion and put it in with the red pepper dices.

Onions added

5.  Finely dice the jalapeno and add it to the onions and red pepper.

Finely diced jalapenos added

6.  Dice up the green pepper and add it to the bowl of veggies.

Green peppers too!

7.  Dice up the Roma tomatoes and add them to the veggies.  Throw in the sliced green olives. Then stir it all around.

Romas added

Throw in some green olives!

A bowl of mixed veggies

8.  Pour about 1/2 a cup of pizza sauce into a big bowl.

Some pizza sauce

9.  Add the veggies and stir.  Once it’s stirred, if the mixture is too chunky, add some more pizza sauce and stir again.  You want all the veggies to be well-coated, plus a little extra sauciness.  But you don’t want it too saucy or it will be too wet later and not cook properly.

A good mixture thickness

10.  Take the refrigerated dough out of the tube and gently unroll it.

Unrolled

11.  Tear off one of the little perforated triangles.  Then very gently stretch it a little bit to make it less of a long narrow triangle and more like the one in the pic below.  The dough can stretch too thin very easily – if you realize it’s going to rip, just leave it.  You can get by with the long narrow triangle if you need to.

A perforated triangle, pulled a bit to make a less-narrow triangle

12.  Take one of the mozzarella slices you made earlier, break it in half, and place it in the triangle like in the picture below.

Mozzie in the triangle

13.  Spoon a couple of globs of the saucy mixture on top of the cheese.

Saucy!

Now sprinkle it with cheese:

Cheese!

14.  Take the shortest end-corner (in the picture above, the corner in the top-left hand part of the picture) and pull it up and over the sauce and press it into the dough across.  See below as an example.  Be sure to press it into the dough on the other side pretty well so that it’s bonded.

Top-left corner folded up and across the saucy stuff

15.  Now take the shorter of the two remaining sticking-out corners and fold it up and over towards the other side.  Press it into the middle dough part, again so that it’s bonded together.  See below:

Shorter side pulled up and into the middle part

16.  Now take the long part and pull it up and over everything else, as far as it goes without stretching it.  Press it into the dough so it’s bonded.

Long side folded over and then pressed in

17.  Carefully lift the raw Pizza Bundle off the counter and put it on an ungreased baking sheet.

18.  Repeat the steps above until you’ve made eight amazing Pizza Pizzazies.

Raw Bundles ready to get cooked

Close-up of a raw bundle ready to go

19.  Cook them according to the directions on the refrigerated crescent roll directions.

20.  Once they’re golden-brown and scrumptious-looking, take them out of the oven.  Let them rest for about 2 minutes.  Slide a spatula underneath each one to make sure it’s not sticking to the pan.

A bunch of cooked Pizza Bundles!

Close-up!!!

21.  Serve and enjoy!

Heavenly

These are great to make for a small gathering at home, or for a snack for yourself and then to take in your lunches for work!  They refrigerate pretty well so make all 8.  Between being hungry at home and taking them in your lunches, you’ll eat them all within a day or two!

  Here’s what it costs to make Pizza Bundles (approx. 8 bundles): 

• Crescent rolls:  $2.50
• Mozzarella cheese:  $1.50
• Cheddar cheese:  $0.75
• Red pepper:  $0.25
• Onion:  $0.15
• Jalapeno:  $0.08
• Green pepper:  $0.25
• Tomato:  $0.30
• Green olives:  $0.15
• 1 small jar of pizza sauce:  $1.50

Total cost to make:  $7.43

Total cost per Pizza Bundle:  $0.93

This glorious pizza-in-your-hand snack is less than a dollar?  WOW!!!

I can eat two of these in a sitting, so your delicious meal costs you less than two dollars, and you’ve got lunch and snacks for the next day.  Or you’ve got a great snack for 3-7 of your friends and you!  All for less than eight bucks!

I’ve got a lot more meals like this that are quick and tasty!  Try one of these:

• Tasty Tuna Tucks
• Bacon n Egg Salad

Grilled Cheese With Pizza Filling

It’s part grilled cheese, it’s part pizza.  It’s totally groovy.

This is a great quick meal at home.  If you have a friend over and you’re both hungry, this is a good easy sandwich to whip up that will both fill your tummies and leave your guest impressed at your cooking skills!

This is sooooo easy to make! You need to be able to cut some stuff, assemble a sandwich, and then grill it in a pan on the stove.

Here’s what you need to make one:

• Two pieces of bread
• 2 tbsps of butter/margarine
• A small handful of pickled jalapenos
• 1/10 of a white onion
• A few pieces of pre-cooked bacon
• A few slices of mozzarella cheese
• A few spoonfuls of pizza sauce
• 2 tbsps of spreadable cream cheese

  Here’s how to make it: 

1.  Chop up your pickled jalapeno slices and put them on a plate.

Cut-up jalapeno slices

2.  Dice up some white onion and put it on the plate with the jalapeno slices.

Diced-up white onion

3.  Chop up some pre-cooked bacon and put it in with the onions and jalapenos.

Chopped-up bacon

4.  Slice up some mozzarella cheese and put the pieces aside on another plate.

Mozzie slices

5.  Spread some cream cheese on one side of both pieces of bread.

Cream cheese spread on bread

6. Put a couple of slices of mozzarella cheese on top of one of the pieces of bread.

7.  Spread the bacon, onion, and jalapeno on top of the mozzarella slices, then spoon pizza sauce over the veggies to make a thin layer.

A thin layer of pizza sauce covering a good layer of veggies

8.  Top the sauce with the rest of your mozzarella cheese slices.

Mozzie on top of the delicious stuff

9.  Put the other slice of bread on top, cream cheese facing down.

Other slice of bread on top

A delicious side-view of the pre-cooked sammie

10.  Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a pan on the stove (use medium or slightly higher heat) and then put the sandwich in the pan.

Butter melting in a pan

Sandwiches cooking in the butter

11.  Let the sandwich cook for about 4 minutes, then flip onto the other side.   Add another tbsp of butter/margarine to the pan.

Mmmmm gettin’ toasty!

12.  Keep cooking, flipping the sandwich every four minutes or so, until both sides are a delicious dark golden-brown color.

Look at that!

That’s it, you’re done!   Enjoy the tastiness!

  Here’s what it costs to make a Grilled Cheese with Pizza Filling:

• Bread:  $0.40
• Butter/margarine:  $0.05
• Jalapenos:  $0.20
• Onion:  $0.20
• Bacon:  $0.75
• Cheese:  $0.75
• Pizza sauce:  $0.35
• Cream cheese:  $0.25

Total cost to make one Groovy Pizza Griller:  $2.95  

    Wow, what a great price for such a pizza-licious grilled cheese extravaganza!!

    Looking for some other delicious sandwich ideas?  Check out these: 

• Bacon n Egg Salad
• The SmackDown Sandwich

Pizza Pinwheels

With pizza being so popular, how come it’s not more popular at potlucks?

It’s your chance to be the Office Hero!  Bring these bad boys to your next potluck at work, or to your next family gathering, and listen to the music of compliments all day!

This recipe is vegetarian – you can add meaty stuff if you want, but Pizza Pillows taste amazing without any meat added.  If you can find gluten-free tortilla wraps somewhere, you can make these gluten-free too!

 These are surprisingly simple!  You need to be able to chop a few veggies, grate cheese, and roll up tortillas.  You’ll be the hero of the party!

Here’s what you need to make them:

• Tortilla wraps (1 10-inch wrap will get you 10 to 12 pieces)
• A jar of pizza sauce
• About a cup of grated cheese (I use a mix of cheddar and mozzarella)
• Your favorite pizza veggies (tomatoes, onions, green peppers, jalapenos, green olives, etc.)

Here’s how to make them:

1.  Cut up all of your favorite pizza veggies into small dices.  I like the combination of tomatoes, onions, green peppers, jalapenos, and green olives, but you can use whatever you like.  Add mushrooms if you want.  You could also add meat, like small-diced pepperoni or sausage or bacon.

A bowlful of finely-diced chopped pizza veggies

2.  Pour a little bit of pizza sauce in with the veggies and stir it up.  You want to add just enough sauce so that each piece of veggie is coated, plus a little bit extra.

Veggies coated with pizza sauce

3.  Take a tortilla wrap and spoon some of the saucy veggies on it.  You want to have enough saucy veggies on the tortilla to cover the entire tortilla but you don’t want the layer to be too thick or it won’t roll up very well.

A tortilla wrap covered with saucy veggies

4.  Sprinkle some cheese on top of the saucy veggies.  It doesn’t have to be a big layer of cheese, just a good sprinkling.

A good sprinkling of cheese on top of the saucy veggies

5.  Roll up the tortilla, starting from the bottom (closest to you) and going all the way up to the top so it’s completely rolled.  See the pictures below:

Start by turning up the edge closest to you

Continue to roll – don’t squeeze too hard but also don’t roll too loose, just try to roll as tight as you can without squishing the ingredients out

Your finished roll should look like this

6.  Cut the roll up into slices.  A 10-inch tortilla should get you 10 or 12 slices.  I cut these straight across.  Since the pizza sauce isn’t really sticky, the sliced roll-ups won’t stay together as well, so quickly transfer them from your cutting board to a baking sheet.  If they fall apart a bit, do your best to reconstruct them.

A baking sheet full of cut-up pre-baked Pizza Pillows

A close-up of a cut-up, pre-baked Pizza Pillow

7.  Put the Pizza Pillows in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes.

8.  After 8 minutes, take them out.  Since they can fall apart easily, don’t flip them.

9.  Using a spoon, add a small glob of pizza sauce onto the top of each Pizza Pillow.  You don’t want to add too much or these will be messy to eat – you just want a nice little layer of saucy goodness.

Pizza Pillows with pizza sauce globs on top

10.  Sprinkle cheese on top.

Cheese sprinkled on top

A close-up of the cheese on top

11. Put them back in the oven for another 5 or 6 minutes, or until the cheese is melted the way you like it.

12.  Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes.  They will not fall apart very much at all now that they’ve been topped with sauce and cheese, but letting them cool for a few minutes on the sheet will help them stay together even more.

13.  Once they’ve rested for a bit, they’re ready!  You can snack on them, or you can put them on a pretty plate and bring them to a potluck.

Pizza Pillows, lookin’ delicious!

Pizza Pillows are great warm or cold.  They are probably better warm, though, since they’re supposed to be little pizzas, so if you take them to a potluck see if there’s an oven you can heat them up in for a few minutes.  But it’s not the end of the world if you have to serve them cold – they still taste like pizza and they are still amazing!!

Here’s how much they cost to make (for 3 tortilla rolls’ worth):

• Tortilla wraps:  $1.00
• Pizza sauce:  $1.50
• Cheese:  $1.50
• Veggies:  $0.75

   Total cost to make:  $4.75

The above amount will make about 36 little appetizers.  Not bad for $4.75!  That’s just $0.13 each!

If you want to make Pizza Pillows for a snack, just keep these ingredients handy and make them anytime you want!  Making one tortilla roll of these (12 pieces) will only cost about $1.58 and it will be the best snack you have all week!!

Close-up of a Pizza Pillow…. yum!

  Looking for some other cool snack/appetizer recipes?  Check these out:

• Bacon Bites
• Cheesy Bacon Mini-Balls

Pizza Lasagna Jumble

This enormous batch of delicious Pizza Lasagna Lunch will feed you all week at work!

This meal combines the noodles from lasagna and the sauce from pizza – along with cheese, veggies, pepperoni, and any other tasty morsels you love on your pizza.  Enjoy!

You can also take this large batch to a potluck, or you could host a party and have this as the main course!

It’s a little time-consuming to make but it’s not overly difficult.  Give it a try!

  Here’s what you need to make it: 

• 1 package of lasagna noodles
• 1 package of ground beef (about one pound)
• Your favorite pizza veggies
• 2 bottles of pizza sauce (about 3 cups in total, more if you have it)
• Grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar, about two cups)
• Pepperoni (as much as you like)

  Here’s how to make it:

1.  Put on a big pot of boiling water to cook the lasagna noodles.  While you’re waiting for the water to boil, break up the uncooked lasagna noodles into bite-sized pieces.  Once the water is boiling, cook the noodles until they’re nice and soft.   Then drain it and let it cool down.

Lasagna noodles, all broken up into bite-sized pieces

Lasagna noodles getting cooked

2.  While the noodles are cooking, cook your ground beef in a pan.  Add any salt or pepper that you like to make your ground beef nice and tasty!

I like to add some crushed chili peppers to my ground beef to make it nice and spicy!

3.  Once your ground beef is all cooked, add the bottled pizza sauce.  I like to have my pasta really saucy, so I add two bottles of pizza sauce.  Once you’ve added the sauce, stir it all around and keep it on low heat so the sauce warms up.

Beef and sauce

4.  Once your lasagna noodles are drained, put them back in the big pot that you cooked them in.  Then add the ground beef/sauce mixture and stir it all up.

Lasagna noodles, ground beef, and pizza sauce all stirred up!

5.  Chop all of your veggies.  It’s up to you which veggies you want to put into your Pizza Lasagna Lunches.  Use the veggies that you like to have on your pizza!

Some ideas for great veggies to add are:

• green peppers
• red or white onions
• green or black olives
• sliced mushrooms
• tomatoes

Cut the veggies into delicious little pieces, the same size that you would see them on a pizza.

6.  Add the veggies into the big pot with the noodles, beef, and sauce.

Healthy and tasty!

7.  Stir it all up!

Stirred up and lookin’ good!

8.  Add the pepperoni and stir it up again.

Pepperoni!

9.  Add the cheese and stir it up again!

Cheese!

10.  Stir and stir until everything is all nice and mixed up.  It’s half lasagna, it’s half pizza.  It’s delicious!

What could be better?

11.  Gather up 5 reusable containers and divide the mixture into the containers.  Now you’ve got lunches for the whole week!!

Pizza Lasagna Lunches, all ready to go!

Tip:  I keep 3 containers in the fridge for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and I put Thursday and Fridays’ lunches in the freezer.  I don’t want them sitting in the fridge all week with that ground beef in them.  Cooked ground beef should be used within 3 days of being cooked.  On Wednesday night, I pull Thursday and Fridays’ containers out of the freezer and put them in the fridge so they’re defrosted in time for lunch!

Here’s what it costs to make: 

• Lasagna noodles:  $1.50
• 1Ground beef:  $5.00
• Veggies:  $3.00
• Pizza sauce:  $2.50
• Cheese:  $3.00
• Pepperoni:  $4.50

   Total cost to make:  $19.50

Total cost for lunch each day (5 days’ worth of deliciousness):  $3.90

This meal is healthy (lots of meat and veggies), filling, and very tasty!

It’s also a great meal to make if you have company coming over.  This will easily feed 4 or 5 people!

Need some other irresistible meals?  Try one of these:

• Smokin’ Scrambled Eggs
• Tasty Tuna Tucks