October is Pizza Month: Reviewing Our Favorite Pizza Recipes

These days, ordering a pizza is as easy as pulling out your phone and opening an app. But, let's face it, it's hard to beat homemade. Besides, preparing a pizza at home doesn't require waiting for (and paying for) delivery or going out again if you're already at home.

Making homemade pizza actually is pretty easy, especially if you follow one of the favorite pizza recipes that we're going to tell you about, all tried and true. It's a fun activity, too, one that's perfect for involving the kiddos.

Kid-Friendly Pizza Recipes

Photo from Ladymermaid

With just the tiniest bit of planning you'll always have the ingredients on hand to make this Quick and Easy Pizza Bun Recipe from my friend Lorelei aka Ladymermaid.

Pizza sauce from a bottle or jar should be a staple in your house, along with plenty of mozzarella cheese.  A toaster oven is perfect for making these individual pizzas using bread or hamburger or hot dog buns. Kids, especially, love adding the cheese and toppings to the buns and popping them into the toaster oven for a few minutes. Adults enjoy these, too, perhaps with more sophisticated toppings. For a family or a crowd, use a baking sheet and the regular oven to turn out enough pizzas for everyone.

Photo from Cooking for the Holidays

Since it's October, I absolutely had to include the recipe for this fun Spider Web pizza from Review This Reviews' own Sylvestermouse. She's absolutely right about families' needing a quick but filling meal before trick-or-treating on Halloween evening. And, as her family has done, making this Spider Web Pizza a tradition for October 31st is a great idea.

Only a few simple ingredients are required to assemble a delicious pizza that your family will love. Adding a creepy spider to the top is optional, but where's the fun in that? Read all about decorating a pizza for Halloween at the link.

Healthy Pizza Recipes

Photo from Recipes For Real People

If you love pizza but want something a little different from the traditional red sauce topped with pepperoni, try this Artichoke Zucchini white pizza recipe. I call it "A to Z Pizza" for short.

I use packaged crust and jarred Alfredo sauce, along with sliced fresh zucchini, a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, some onion, garlic, and black olives, and top it all off with a combination of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Yes, it tastes as good as it sounds! It's good for you, too, if you go easy on the sauce.

Photo from Sam's Place

To turn any of these pizza recipes into true homemade pizza, you'll need a good pizza crust recipe. Get it at Sam's Place! Here's his easy homemade all purpose dough recipe, and he also includes links to his own homemade pizza and pepperoni bread recipes. Prepare to be impressed as Sam is a wonderful cook. (Update: Hot out of the pizza oven is Sam's latest, Fresh Tomato Spinach Pizza. Don't miss this delicious recipe!)

Pizza When It's Too Hot to Cook

Author Photo

Pizza is perfect food around the calendar, but when it's hot outside I don't like to heat up the house by turning on the oven. That's why I'm thrilled with the Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Pizza Oven that joined our family several months ago.

Whether I'm in the mood for a quick pizza from the freezer, if I pick up a fresh pizza from the deli, or even if I make my own pizza from scratch, the Pizzazz allows me to prepare it without heating up the house. This awesome appliance also saves time since there's no preheating required. It works for other foods, too, as you'll learn when you read my full Pizzazz Plus review.

So, are you hungry yet? 

These recipes should get you through October's Pizza Month celebration or any month, year, or day of the week that you find yourself in the mood for a slice of one of America's favorite foods. I'd love if you leave a comment to let me know which of these is your favorite pizza recipe.

~Susan 

Read More "Review This" Recipes Here

~Susan Deppner
Read more of my reviews.

Posted by Susan Deppner

About the Author

Susan Deppner is a baby boomer, a cancer survivor, and a Southerner who believes in the Golden Rule. She enjoys writing about food, faith, and fitness; health, home, and holidays; people, places, pets, and patriotism, and more. Follow Susan on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Oven Review

Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Pizza Oven Review

A Multi-Use Rotating Pizza Oven (and more) 

I first had my eye on the Presto Pizzazz a couple of years ago, thinking that it might be a fun kitchen gadget, something I'd use now and then to bake or re-heat pizza. I didn't buy it then because I decided that a one-purpose gadget wasn't a good investment of money or space in my kitchen.

But wait, there's more.

Recently, I came across this clever pizza cooker again, with a new, updated name. Now it's called the Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Pizza Oven. This time I read the outstanding reviews and realized that there was much more to the Presto Pizzazz than pizza. People love this thing and use it for lots of different convenience foods, and prepare food that you wouldn't even think of as being able to bake outside a conventional oven. Indeed, it's not just a one-purpose kitchen gadget, not at all!

So I bought the Pizzazz Plus and determined to test it out for myself.

First We Baked Pizza

First, we tried pizza (makes sense). I bought our favorite freshly-prepared pizza from the deli (actually they're previously frozen, thawed when you buy them, but they look fresh, taste amazing, and we like them a lot). I ended up adding a little bit of time to the recommended cooking time in the Presto Pizzaz Plus instruction booklet and we really loved the result. The crust was perfectly done on the bottom, the toppings hot, and the cheese bubbly. The frozen pizza that I tried later turned out very well, too.

I should mention that there are two heating elements on the oven, one above and one underneath the tray. It's up to you to choose upper, dual, or lower. So if the crust is done the way you like it but your piled-on pizza toppings need a bit more heat, simply choose "upper," add some time, and watch the pizza until it looks exactly as hot and bubbly as you want it to be.

Chocolate chip cookies
baking on the Presto Pizzazz Plus.

Then we moved on to cookies for dessert. Brilliant! I love being able to bake up just four to six cookies from a refrigerated package for the two of us as a quick dessert. Delicious result!

Tater tots make for a quick lunch
or snack when baked on the
Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Oven.

The next day I chose tater tots to fix for a quick lunch. Again, the pizza oven, now a tater tots oven, performed as advertised using the settings and cooking time for "potato patties" in the convenience food cooking chart included with the instructions.

The breaded, cheese-stuffed jalapeno peppers that we tried next turned out great, too.

That night we tried frozen egg rolls to go with our stir-fry vegetables (honestly, we do eat "fresh" most of the time, but everybody's entitled to a little convenience food now and then). Again, score! And no preheating the conventional oven, which sped up dinner prep time considerably.

All the frozen convenience foods that we tried, even the cookies, turned out great. Saturday morning came the big test: cinnamon rolls, the "pop and fresh" kind. I almost didn't try them on the Pizzazz Plus because it seemed so unlikely that they'd turn out, but my husband encouraged me to be brave, to try and see what happens. Once again I was not only surprised but impressed. Eight cinnamon rolls with the recommended settings from the instruction book were a perfect fit and turned out beautifully, as you can see from the pictures below. And yes, they tasted great, too.

Presto Pizzazz Plus Cinnamon Rolls - before.

Presto Pizzazz Plus Cinnamon Rolls - after.

Presto Pizzazz Plus Tips

Here are seven things about the Pizzazz that are important to remember:

Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Oven with Instruction Book.
Utensils are not included.

1. Place the Pizzazz Plus away from the edge of the counter. It's attractive to both kids and dogs, neither of which should be allowed to operate or even touch it without the permission (and supervision) of a responsible adult. Safety first!

2. Don't walk away from the Pizzazz Plus when it's in use. First reason, you might not hear the "ding" when it's done and, even though the heating coils turn off at the end of the timed cycle, the residual heat may will burn the food (I should have taken a picture). Second reason, see number one above.

3. Using potholders, lift and remove the tray from the Pizzazz when you're satisfied that the food is done and set it on a cooling rack or cutting board to let the food, and the tray, cool.

4. To avoid damaging the surface of the tray, don't use a pizza wheel or knife until you've moved the pizza to a cutting board. See number 5.

5. Treat the tray carefully to make it last. Store it in a safe place where it won't get scratched. Use only utensils that are designed to be used on non-stick surfaces to keep from damaging the surface. Consider investing in a silicone or plastic spatula and tongs (useful for turning tater-tots, egg rolls, etc.) to use with the Presto Pizzazz.

6. Read the instruction booklet that comes with the appliance. Test it using the times and methods on the cooking charts then adjust accordingly based on your own preferences.

7. Don't overload the cooking tray with food; leave space between individual tater tots, chicken nuggets, etc. For instance, six cookies, spaced evenly, bake much better than nine or 10 cookies that are too close together.

But Wait, There's More!

(Did I say that already?) There are many other foods you can bake on the Pizzazz Plus, I just haven't gotten to them all. Besides typical frozen snack foods, cookies, and cinnamon rolls, the instruction booklet suggests grilled sandwiches and quesadillas, and even includes instructions for making s'mores. What's not to like about that?!

When I first looked, I was amazed at how many 5-star reviews this convenient countertop pizza oven had received. Now I know why. The very handy Presto Pizzazz Plus Rotating Pizza Oven gets 5 stars from me and has earned my "Sassy Susan" Seal of Approval.

Did you enjoy the review? Does this appliance appeal to you? How would you use it? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

QUICK LINKS:
Buy the Presto Pizzazz Plus at Home Depot (Best price as I type this - subject to change)
Buy it at Walmart
Buy it at Amazon.com

~Susan
Meet the Reviewer

P.S. If you enjoyed this review, please pin it:

~Susan Deppner
Read more of my reviews.

Posted by Susan Deppner

About the Author

Susan Deppner is a baby boomer, a cancer survivor, and a Southerner who believes in the Golden Rule. She enjoys writing about food, faith, and fitness; health, home, and holidays; people, places, pets, and patriotism, and more. Follow Susan on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON: