Week 1 - Pizza Pinwheels

I found this quick and easy dinner on Pinterest.  We needed to do some cheap and easy meal planning for the week, and this recipe fit the bill.  I tried it out yesterday, and while the prep was a little harder than I thought, it was a hit with the entire family. 

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/pizza-rolls-recipe/1/
 
I let my 4 year daughter help with the cheese, pepperonis and Parmesan.  I recommend grating your own fresh mozzarella.  It melts better and tastes so good!  I wasn't exact with the amount of pepperoni or Parmesan, especially since my daughter was the one shaking out the Parmesan.  I am not sure if we got more on the pizza rolls or on the stove top!

I used the Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough instead of the Pillsbury classic pizza dough.  I don't like the rolls to be too doughy, so I thought the thin crust was a safe bet.    Rolling the dough was a little trickier than I thought.  It warmed quickly at room temperature and stretched quite a bit while I was trying to roll it.  After a couple tries, I was able to get it all rolled up and started to slice.  Slicing also posed a small issue, as the dough would pull off when I was slicing towards the middle of the roll.  I was able to reassemble each roll when I placed it on the baking sheet.

I made the mistake of placing the rolls upright instead of on it's side.  For some reason, I was afraid that if it was on it's side, the cheese would burn on the baking sheet.  Silly me!!  I didn't stop to think that the cheese would cook the same upright or on it's side..  I had one that accidentally flipped on it's side, and it turned out perfectly!  The others that I had placed upright, were very brown on top.  They still ate well though!

I served the rolls with some store bought marinara sauce warmed up in the microwave.  Everyone ate at least 2 rolls, and I have 3 picky eaters on my hands!  They have all requested that it be put in the meal rotation at least once a month.

End result - My rolls were definitely not as pretty as those pictured above, but they were still delicious! This is a great recipe that takes about 30 minutes start to finish, and I would definitely recommend it to those who need quick yummy meals during the week.