by Here’s another favorite. This one comes from my friend Cara, of the “homeschool mommies mega-cooking days”… My favorite thing about this recipe is how quickly the dough rises. You can’t beat this recipe for taste and ease of preparation.
Remember, I make several batches at a time with this–that’s why it’s called “mega-cooking”–so this recipe makes 4 batches.
Pizza Pockets
- 2 batches of dough*
- 2 lbs cooked sausage, or hamburger or meat of some sort
- 1 pkg Mozzarella cheese
- 2 cans chopped mushrooms, or whatever toppings you enjoy. I usually add chopped onions, bell peppers and black olives to mine if I have them on hand…things my family usually passes on…
*Dough
- 2 pkgs yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 5 cups flour4 TB oil
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- Dissolve yeast
- Stir in remaining ingredients
- Knead
- Rise
Assembly Instructions for Pizza Pockets:
- Separate dough into 16 balls (I usually vary the sizes a bit and get more balls/pockets. I make small ones for my younger girls.)
- Flatten into circles with rolling pin
- Stuff with ingredients and fold dough over, sealing at edge.
- Cut two or three small “steam” slits across the top with a knife. If I’m making different varieties, I cut twice for hamburger, 3 times for pepperoni, etc.
- Bake at 350*F for 8-12 minutes, or till crust begins to brown.
- Cool completely, place in freezer bags, with bag of sauce separately.
To eat, you just stick the frozen pockets on a baking sheet, reheat them in the oven, and serve alongside individual dishes of dipping sauce.
Dipping Sauce
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce for each 4 pockets
- seasoned with garlic powder, minced onion, and Italian seasonings to taste.
Mix well and heat before serving.
we LOVE pizza
Same here! These are like little calzones, very fun treat!
I’ve been doing something similar for a while now. I’ve also tried it with taco stuff. Like refried beans, beef, cheese, and salsa. For myself I like to make them with ranch dressing, cheese, and pineapple.
Yum! I love the idea of making them into taco pockets! We’ll be trying that soon and dipping in salsa! I just made a huge batch…is your mother in law still keeping you supplied salsa-wise? 😉
Thanks for the additional ideas!
What a great idea! I am going to try these today since I have a ton of hamburger meat that needs to be used up and these look absolutely scrumptious!!
Great! They are super-yummy, in fact, I might make them for supper tonight, it would be great treat for our family fridays!
So glad you dropped by Geri!
Come back 😉
Mary
These were DELICIOUS!! My husband is on this special diet right now so I changed the filling. I put in some tomato sauce, soft goat’s cheese (he can’t have regular cheese), onion, garlic (tons of garlic), red pepper, and elk meat. The dough I had to make a yeast-free dough (which I found by googling) and so I pieced it together. He loved it. Since he’s been on this diet he hasn’t been able to eat much but these were definitely a hit!
It’s awesome that you’re such an adaptable cook, Geri! I’m so glad this recipe triggered one that your hubby is able to eat! Your version sounds way more exotic than mine…elk meat and goat cheese, I’d love to try it! I’ve never had elk meat…is your dh a hunter? I mean, they don’t just sell that at the grocery store, lol!
We finally got to eat our pizza pockets…my kids love any excuse to stay up late and hate eating without daddy! I think we got everyone to bed at 10:45, a real treat for kids who are normally in bed between 8:30-9 pm.
I don’t put sauce inside mine, the time I tried that it oozed out of the pockets while cooking…we’re dippers here. 🙂
Btw, go garlic! I always add a ton too…
Yes garlic is a must around here…we love it. And I put sauce in because DH loves tomatoes so I just thought I would try it. I was afraid of it leaking too but surprisingly they didn’t. I used a mix of tomato paste and some chunky tomato sauce so it was fairly thick. I bet your kids loved getting to stay up for pizza pockets! Unfortunately my lil guy was up late because he’s teething and I can’t seem to get him on any sort of schedule. And usually I’m not a very adaptable chef haha…I’m just forced to be one since DH had to go on this strict diet. Normally I’m the type to follow the directions. And the elk meat is from my Dad who is a hunter. It’s really nice because (my family has 7 people in it) growing up my Dad always hunted and now there is only 2 kids left at home so every so often they will pack up a bag of meat and bring it to us. It usually stocks up for a few months and since I grew up on the stuff anything store-bought tastes funny to me. Plus it doesn’t have all the added hormones and stuff (and doesn’t cost us a thing!). I wish my DH hunted…I always said I would marry a guy who hunted because I love wild meat…
Ah, tomato paste and chopped tomatoes, thanks for the tip!
I hear you on the store-bought meat. We were spoiled our first few years of marriage by having our own beef butchered (well, not our own, the rancher’s that dh worked for) and I never knew what I was taking for granted till dh went self-employed for 5 years. Store bought meat isn’t cheap and it isn’t tasty, that’s for sure. What a blessing we received, when dh went to work recently for another rancher, a half beef for our freezer. It’s been wonderful, and this time around, I don’t take it for granted!
Sorry your son is teething! That makes for long nights and fussy days! Hope those teeth poke through soon…how old is he?
He’s 15 months old…so yes very long nights and late bedtimes and early mornings…luckily he is napping right now (I should be too to catch up!!). Do you own your own ranch then? That is great that you guys got a half beef…it definitely is nice having the freezer stocked! Especially around Christmas and winter. I love being able to just go take some meat out when I plan to cook something rather than run to the supermarket. Plus part of DH’s diet is he has to eat all organic foods. Normally we try to get our foods as fresh as possible anyways but now it’s so hard finding stuff he can eat. Not to mention it’s pricey! But when you read on the internet about all the genetically modified, etc. things they do to foods it makes you glad to do things more natural!
Right! And the all-natural nutritional approach is something I’m learning more and more each year. I still have a long ways to go, too! Any tips you have on the subject are welcome, btw.
15 months old, that’s a great age. Still small enough to carry around, beginning to say all those cute babybook-recordable sayings, and old enough to begin doing fun activities…
No we don’t own our own ranch. I wish. Or maybe I don’t, what a headache! 🙂 We do have 12 acres in the country, and about ten head of horses, the occasional bucket calf and way too many Border Collies! My husband is a 100% cowboy, and when he’s not repairing/building saddles on the side he’s employed full time at a huge ranch about 40 minutes from us. He loves it, and loves taking our girls with him whenever possible. Our two oldest are 10 and 7, and turning into quite the cowgirls! Our youngest is here at home with me this morning, 3 years old, drawing gorgeous marker scribbles all over the white board behind me!
So are you currently living in the country, city, small town?
Btw, it’s fun getting to know you!
Thanks! It’s fun getting to know you too! I think we have alot in common. Right now we are living in a very small town (so small it could almost classify as the country so I like it). My husband and I just moved here but are considering moving again since we both would like to have some acreage in the country (kinda like you guys) with a few horses, chickens, goats…and my favourite…a miniature donkey!
Sounds like you have your hands full with 3 kids! They are so lucky to grow up with access to horses and riding! I always wanted that growing up (we lived in a small city) and it would have costed my parents a fortune for me to take riding lessons. It is so character-building too growing up in an atmosphere like that for your girls! They will learn so much!
I’m still learning lots about more a natural lifestyle too so you can give me any tips…I’ve already learned lots on this web-site. Thank you btw for all the recipes too! It’s so rare for me to find recipes that work the first time around and all of yours have been wonderful!
15 months is a fun age…Kyle is just learning to walk so my life is going to change big time now since I will be chasing him around all the time!
I’m so glad there are still small towns in this world of major cities! We’ve actually had chickens and goats, but no mini-donkeys! 😉 We sold all the goats this summer, after having them for years. I think my kids are going to go into withdrawal not having any baby goats to play with this winter! 🙁
It blesses me so much to hear that you’re loving the site, I hope you stick around and continue giving your input, I so enjoy it! Glad the recipes have worked for you, I’m careful not to post any that aren’t absolute favorites at our house.
Go Kyle, just be a good boy while you’re going! 😉 That is a busy busy age!
I saw on here that you were planning to put together a cookbook…are you still working on that? I think you would be great at it!
Hm? I can’t remember mentioning a cookbook project? But I’m always thinking up great ideas and then not following through. Can you remember which post this was?
And thanks for the vote of confidence!
Haha not offhand…I will look for it and let you know if I come across it. I’m so scatter-brained maybe I had seen it on another site or something.
Okay…the only thing that rings a bell was that a fellow blogger had asked me to contribute some recipes to a recipe site that she planned on eventually making into an e-book. But I don’t think anything came of it!
OH! That is probably what it was…I don’t remember much other than the idea of it…it was when I first came on this site so I bet that’s what it was! I love all the topics you talk about on here. It’s really fascinating to read.
Well I love having you here! Makes blogging more fun and more worthwhile–that’s for sure! Plus, it’s nice having some of the older topics revived with new conversations!
I am really curious how you came upon me here, was it through someone else’s site or because of a search? If I might ask? 😉
No problem…I was searching for a recipe for Amish Friendship Bread and found yours…and then I got totally side-tracked and found your other recipes. Now that I think of it I should make that tonight! I completely forgot about it once I got to this site. I read on that thread that one of the women bought her starter right from the Amish. I would love to be near enough to an Amish village to do that, not to mention I would love to buy some of their furniture and quilts. They have such lovely handiwork from the searches I’ve done on here. I love your quilts in your pictures btw…they are beautiful! That must take tons of patience and time!
Wonderful to know that’s how you found me!
I know what you mean about the Amish…I’d love to be near enough to them to absorb their lifestyle a bit, and collect more of their baskets, etc! I don’t think I could ever afford one of their quilts though. Beautiful but pricey! I’ve really only quilted about 3 small quilts. The one in my header picture here was done by my mom…I’d definitely do more of it if time allowed!
What hobbies do you have?
Well other than chasing Kyle around the house not too much! I read alot…I love reading pretty much anything. And when I can I try and crochet a bit but I’m not so good. I am slowly starting (haha I am only on the 2nd row because whenever I start it seems Kyle wakes up!) a blanket but would like to make some diaper covers for him (he’s in cloth diapers). I would love to quilt one day but I know that is a long way down the road and I agree with you about the Amish quilts. I saw their prices on here and I don’t think I see one in my future! And I would love to live near to them too! Their lifestyle is amazing-how hard they work! And I saw your basket on the pics-I agree they are beautiful and look really strong!
Lol, when I typed that question about your hobbies, I almost put “if your 15 month old allows you any free time for hobbies!” 🙂 Reading is a great hobby, one you can put down and pick back up again with a minimal amount of mess! We live in a pretty small house, and until a couple months ago I didn’t even have a free corner for my sewing machine to remain set up. (Now that it is, I still don’t use it!) But my point is, leaving that kind of craft stuff out and within reach of little fingers all the time didn’t appeal to me, esp when the kitchen table was needed for other things!
Reading and writing are my top hobbies, but I do love to cook. Today I was in a pie-baking mood…it’s one of those overcast fall-ish days when apple pie still warm from the oven hits all the spots!
Homeschooling takes most of my time though…so whenever possible I try to incorporate my interests into my children’s education…ie: they’re getting to be pretty good at following a cookbook, and they all three appreciate the value of a good book!
That’s great! How is homeschooling (I’m guessing it’s just the 2 girls who do it right now?) Does is keep you pretty busy? And I know what you mean about the little hands getting into craft stuff that is left out. My lil guy manages to get into everything which also limits what my hobbies are. Our house is pretty small too so I don’t have a room or corner really for any hobbies. And we don’t have a sewing machine, although I have my fingers crossed for Christmas that Santa will maybe get me one! LOL but then if I do get one it will be awhile before I would make it worthwhile (I am not the best at sewing…but I would definitely practise and hopefully get better…I really would like to work on a quilt) but that is if I get one!
Sounds like it must smell wonderful over at your house! Apple pies…Mmmm! It is an overcast, fall-ish day here too…pouring rain. So DH wants to go visit his parents.
Homeschooling is a roller coaster ride! It’s usually pretty great, but as the girls get older, it gets more time intensive. My oldest is a breeze to teach, and she’s very motivated to get started and accomplish her daily subjects so she can move on and play, etc. My 7 year old though, is a flutterbudget and sometimes I wonder if she retains anything I’m teaching her!!! (Can you tell we just had a particularly vexing session reviewing place value???) Sigh. I much prefer teaching preschool-1st grade, when all your subjects can be covered in less than 2 hours a day, leaving plenty of time for read-alouds and CHILDHOOD which I think children get way too little of starting daycare and/or required preschool as early as they do. (Sorry to have gotten started on that!)
Though homeschooling can sometimes be a rigid taskmaster, we’re reaping the benefits in so many ways. Our girls are growing up as each other’s best friends, yet they’re very social little bodies with plenty of friends both in the adult realm and in their various age groups. I love the simplified life of homeschooling. Not being always late to catch a bus, and having 3 meals a day together, and daylight to play/do chores outside, and flexibility to read on the couch together all day long. Plus you can still educate them when they’re sick, no missing school…
My sewing machine was a high school graduation present, and I used it to sew all our curtains in our first home, plus several other projects. I certainly could have gotten a lot more things made with it, but when the babies started coming I left it put away more often than not. Had a ton of fun making my crib ensemble for my firstborn though. And then felt guilty for not making a completely separate one for the other two when they came along! I hope you get yours for Christmas! They are so much fun to play around on, and make sewing a breeze.
Same weather where you guys are? Hm, you’re probably half way across the world from me, lol, but that’s the nice thing about the internet. Hope you have fun at your in-laws house, if you end up going!
Yes we did end up going and we had a yummy meal. We are up in Canada so it is starting to get pretty cold out…but that just makes it nice and cozy in our house so I don’t mind.
I bet homeschooling is a roller-coaster ride! I agree with you about having more time for childhood…I went to a Catholic private school until Grade 6 and then for Grade 7 went to a public school. I hated it so much and came home crying each night begging my Mom to homeschool me until finally for Grades 8 and 9 she did. I was still into my dolls and playing like a kid (I am the oldest in my family so I was still having fun with my younger brothers and sisters) while all the other kids in school wanted to grow up way too young. My sister homeschooled with my while I was in Grade 9 and that year we got incredibly close. I wish now that we had done it for longer since when we went back to the public high school we were still close but she is a people person and got her own group of friends and we were never as close as we were back then. As much as we argued we were still best friends and I think that’s how a family should be. For that fact I would totally homeschool my children when the time comes. If we still live in the area then I will probably send Kyle to the Catholic school I went to(it’s a half hour from here but I have so many memories of it and I would like to support it since so many schools now are public and take children away from what childhood should be like). But if we aren’t living near here then I would probably like to homeschool, as long as I have Kyle doing other activities that keeps him social (like you said with your daughters). My husband and I are both very quiet, shy people so I don’t want to keep Kyle all to ourselves and then have a culture-shock when he goes out into the world. Once he makes it to junior high though (Grade 7) I will let him choose. I want to homeschool then because I know what it was like and how mean other kids could sometimes be.
That is so neat you sewed your curtains! My Mom is good like that…she has done alot of their home decorating on her sewing machine and growing up she sewed us so many beautiful dresses and costumes and stuff. I wouldn’t be quite that good…LOL in highschool I managed to get an A in sewing but I think it was more of a sympathetic A because I was in that class all the time and no matter how hard I worked I still managed to make mistakes! When you do manage to get sewing in do you find it costs less than buying clothing and stuff? I found in my sewing class that the amount of the fabric and supplies costed close if not more than it would have been to get in stores (the only difference being you could customize stuff to your liking and products were nicer and of better quality home-made…if you were a good sewer which I wasn’t haha).
The other nice thing with homeschooling is your children don’t get sick nearly as often. My parents found that with 5 of us in school (3 different schools) everyone was constantly bringing home a different bug so we’d just finish off one round of colds and someone would bring home a flu!
What age did you start homeschooling at (if you don’t mind me asking)? I’m just curious…if (like me and my husband hope!) find a place more out in the country then I will be planning to homeschool him and I’m a little foggy on the details of the kindergarten/preschool age. Well I guess preschool is prior to school so I think that is more of a daycare thing (which we don’t plan to do…I stay at home with Kyle so I wouldn’t send him to daycare/preschool) so I guess I’m asking about kindergarten then…now I’m just getting it all mixed up haha!
wow Sorry! I didn’t realise how long my last post was!
Hey girl, never apologize for long posts, I love ’em! 😉
So you’re from Canada, how beautiful. We visited the Ontario area when I was in junior high, and stocked up on every book written by L.M. Montgomery!
I so hope you get your place in the country and that homeschooling works out for you guys. The two go very well, hand in hand, country life and homeschooling. I’d think especially so with sons. Give them chores to do and outdoor freedom to romp and dig and run and work w/o neighbors wondering why they’re not in school.
As for when we started homeschooling, we “technically” started when my oldest was kindergarten age–5 years old. But most preschool and even kindergarten type learning can be accomplished just by a lot of talking things out together and reading great books. Pointing out math problems in everyday life, for instance, if this neighbor has 3 goats and we have 4, how many is that all together? Let’s count them. Etc. Doing word problems like that sharpens their minds so much in advance of school. Sorting out m&m’s into colored piles, helping cook with measurements, plenty of time to play with scissors and doing dot-to-dots with ABCs and numbers. Having a letter of the week that you print big and red on several pieces of construction paper and hang one in each room of the house so you can bring it to his attention whenever you think about it. There are so many “fun” ways to teach that age group, that you don’t need any fancy curriculums. We did sometimes buy workbooks at Staples or Wal Mart, just for the colorful “busy” work, and the girls enjoyed them.
As Kyle gets closer to two years old you can start teaching him the letters in his name. Maybe keep those four letters on the fridge (magnetic letters) where he can play with them and rearrange them, knowing they are his name letters. My 3 year old has been finding “K’s” in hymnbooks and library books for a year now, and it just thrills her to death to know that it’s a letter from her name. 🙂
I enjoyed hearing your education experience. How wonderful that your mom was willing to let you come home during those hard years. I found jr high to be the hardest-peer pressure wise, and I was in a private Christian school as well. I started out homeschooled for K-1st, then was in private school mostly (mom homeschooled me during a few lean years when we couldn’t afford the tuition) till my sophomore year in high school when my parents put me in public school. We’d moved to a smaller town, and it was a pretty good school system. That’s where I met my hubby, so it was a good thing. 🙂
I have a super support system of homeschoolers in a nearby city, in fact, on Tuesdays we have homeschool classes, so today was our busy day of making the most of being in a town with affordable grocery shopping, etc. Gas prices going up mean we make the most of every trip!
I must make sure you know I’m not that great of a seamstress. 🙂 None of my curtains were “house beautiful” quality, just my own simple cafe style, or valances with ruffles. Curtains are so simple you don’t even need a pattern, just measure and make sure you have enough material to have it bunch nicely where you want it to! I love it that most home decor projects are easy that way, whether its throw pillows or shower curtains, if you have a sewing machine you can beautify your home pretty inexpensively. But as far as sewing clothes, you’re right, it’s cheaper to go to the thrift store or Wal Mart! The clothes I’ve sewn have been for sentimental purposes, costumes or aprons or nightgowns, or special “twirling” circle skirts for my little ballerina-wannabes! I’ve only sewn myself a couple of skirts since my home ec days. I don’t know how my mom’s sewing machine survived all the angst I poured out on it during that year!
🙂
I loved the Anne of Green Gables books growing up! I think I have almost every L.M. Montgomery book out in our garage waiting to be unpacked still!
Thanks for the tips on homeschooling! I will definitely do that when it comes time. It sounds like you are a very good teacher for your girls. With us, we just were given a curriculum from a local homeschooling education school and then went in every now and then for the exams. I don’t think my Mom did much in the way of teaching us. But I like your approach. Making learning fun is great especially for younger kids because then they are more willing to do it.
I like the idea of having a support system of other homeschoolers. That’s a good opportunity to meet other people and have the children make friends. I don’t think they had that for us when we did it, but from other people I know who are doing it now they do have it here too.
And I know what you mean about doing as much as possible in one trip. Whenever we visit my family half an hour away we make the most of the Wal-Mart and other big stores (health food store and other grocery stores) and buy there where it is considerably cheaper than what we have here (2 over-priced under-stocked grocery stores).
The simple look is what looks the nicest I think for home decor. I think the more simple the look the homier the house feels. That’s cute you make twirling skirts for your little ballerinas…you should post pics on here! My sister and I used to do ballet too! LOL my Mom put us in it to teach us grace…she said we needed it!
Hee…notice I wrote “ballerina-wannabes”…they love to pretend that they’re ballerinas, but they’re not in ballet…
They don’t need to be in it to practice though…At least they are trying. That is great!
My middle daughter could walk on her toes without trying for a few years…she probably would have been a great ballerina! She’s still my “girly-est” girl!
That’s really good! It is such a hard thing to do and not many girls make it to pointe! That takes amazing leg and foot strength.
I’m sure it does, I can’t imagine! OUCH!
I simply love all things pizza and I don’t think that will change anytime soon!
I was wondering how long the dough has to rise? Maybe I am just overlooking it???
Thanks!
Rebecca
Oops, good point, should have included that in this recipe! The dough rises very quickly…I’d say 30 minutes would be plenty of time…I’ve always turned to this dough recipe when I need a great crust in a quick turn around!
Hope you end up trying it!
As salsa lover, anything that will go with it, I am willing to try. From the way this looks, there is a guarantee that I am again in for a wonderful treat. More of this kind of recipes please and thank you for sharing.
Thank you for the great feedback! Come back often, and meanwhile, enjoy your pizza pockets! ;O)