Dough! Fun with Pillsbury - recipes for you!

This is what our pizza SHOULD look like, LOL. Image from  pillsbury.com.

Dough much fun!

Last week, we were shiny VIP guests of Pillsbury, one of our favorite go-to brands when the kids are clamoring "what's for dinner/breakfast" and I want to make something out of the ordinary. Imagine how excited Liv and I were when we got invited to a Pillsbury "Make It Tonight" event near our home at Make Meaning - a fabulous studio where you can learn, create, and have a great time. We can't wait to go back there with friends and create our own candles or soap... or should we make our own glass jewelry? Or learn how to pipe frosting and make our own cakes...? Tough to choose.

The event was created by the good folks at Pillsbury (thanks, Irma!) to show how you can "let the making begin" with Pillsbury Pizza Crust dough. Here is what we learned - recipes below too:

-- Did you know Pillsbury Pizza Crust dough comes in Artisan and Thin and Classic (like a thick crust)? We learned how to create our own flavoring for the crust (little ones LOVED this too) using your own flavored olive oils, parmesan, and garlic on the dough first, then bake it per instructions.

-- In just seven minutes, our custom crust was done, and we added our own toppings - Liv did a great job scattering tomato sauce, mozzarella - both fresh and shredded, fresh basil, chopped tomatoes and cooked onions and peppers (what? vegetables seem more fun when SHE is placing them on the pizza?)

-- Watching her create her own was a lot of fun - lots of kids were trying to be artistic about placing the pepperonis and such around the pizza

-- In just 7-9 minutes, bam! Dinner is served.  Everyone enjoyed making their own chef hats, aprons, tattoos and ceramic pizza plates (great idea) and dishes before/after their pizza making activity, and had a great time.

Here's a simple recipe you can print, save and share, but there are dozens of really creative Pillsbury recipes here - and on their vibrant Pinterest page, here. You can also follow them on Facebook or on Twitter (@Pillsbury - naturally). Enjoy monkeys!

Parmesan Crusted Pepperoni Pizza

Ingredients:

1

can Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust

2

tablespoons butter, softened

1/2

cup shredded Parmesan cheese (2 oz)

1

cup pizza sauce

1 3/4

cups shredded mozzarella cheese (7 oz)

1/2

package (3.5-oz size) sliced pepperoni (25 to 30 slices)

• 1Heat oven to 400°F. Grease large dark or nonstick cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray. Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Press out dough to 15x10-inch rectangle.
• 2Spread butter over dough; sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over butter. Bake 7 minutes; remove from oven.
• 3Spread pizza sauce evenly over partially baked crust; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Top evenly with pepperoni.
• 4Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.

Expert Tips

Any size pepperoni can be used, but you may need to adjust the amount for this pizza.

Grated Parmesan cheese can be used instead of the shredded but it will look different on the crust and won't be as visible.

Nutrition Information 

Serving Size: 1 Serving

 

Calories

400

 ( 

Calories from Fat

170),

 

% Daily Value

 

Total Fat

19g

19%

 

(Saturated Fat

9g,

9%

 

Trans Fat

0g

0%

 ), 

Cholesterol

45mg

45%;

 

Sodium

1090mg

1090%;

 

Total Carbohydrate

36g

36%

 

(Dietary Fiber

2g

2%

 

  Sugars

1g

1%

 ), 

Protein

19g

19%

 ; 

% Daily Value*:

 

Vitamin A

15%;

 

Vitamin C

4%;

 

Calcium

40%;

 

Iron

15%;

 

Exchanges:

2 1/2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 2 Fat;

Carbohydrate Choices:

2 1/2 

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

After perusing the website, we are also dying to try this amazing Pillsbury Grand recipe for Pepperoni-Pizza Monkey Bread created by Cheeky Kitchen blogger Brooke McLay:

Disclosure: We were guests of this free event and enjoyed the free pizza making and activities, 

but our opinions and the resulting weight gain are all ours.