Pepperoni Pizza Soup

I made Oh Bite It's "Grilled Cheese Pull Apart Rolls" tonight for dinner and wanted a soup to go with it, since it is rainy and cold out. This was the perfect match for it.

One of the things I find I miss most is pizza, and I don't always want to go all out and make a fancy pizza on a puff pastry crust, so I created pizza soup to mimic the flavor of pizza without the crust. I use shortcuts, like canned tomato soup, so that I can whip up a pot of soup in no time at all.

This particular recipe is for a Pepperoni Pizza Soup, but you are welcome to omit that and make it a vegetarian soup, adding mushrooms and roasted red peppers, or onions, or whatever topping you like. Be creative!

Ingredients:
2 11 oz. cans of condensed tomato soup + 3 cans of water
2 tablespoons of butter
2 green onions, sliced
About 2 oz of pepperoni, sliced
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano and thyme)
1 cup or more of Italian blend cheese
½ cup shredded parmesan blend
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional - ½ can of heavy cream

In a soup pot, melt butter over medium heat.
Sweat the onions in the melted butter and add sliced pepperoni.
Allow the pepperoni to crisp up, which will allow the fats to render.
Add the garlic and Italian seasoning. Stir until fragrant, a few moments, then add the condensed soup.
Stir well, add water and stir.
Allow to come to a boil, stirring periodically.
Once hot, add cheeses, allowing them to melt.
Add salt and pepper to taste, adjust seasoning as needed.
Finish with heavy cream, if desired, and serve hot with a little extra cheese on top.

Spinach Alfredo Pizza

I created this for the challenge at Double Take. The ingredients for this time were Spinach and Cheese.  I just happened to have some fancy pizza dough in my house I have been meaning to use that is yeast free ( I used a Great Value brand, but it also comes in that Pillsbury brand I have mentioned before that is leavened with Glucono Delta Lactone and Baking Soda), so a delicious white pizza sounded great.  If the fancy strikes you, you can butter the crust when it comes out of the oven and sprinkle it with parmesan.

Pepperoni Bread

Pillsbury makes a pizza dough that is leavened with baking soda and Glucono delta-lactone that I have found to be tolerable and quite useful.  Tonight, I made pepperoni bread out of it, that I served with a side of tomato sauce for dipping.  It's easy and delicious.

Basic Yeast- Free Pizza

The recipe below is the general methodology for plain yeast-free pizza, it is meant to be a base for customization.  This is in NO way low-calorie, but it is great when the craving for pizza overtakes you and you can't take one more pizza delivery commercial without losing your mind. The pizza pictured above was a sausage and bacon with provolone, mozzarella, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.  The toppings are only limited  by your imagination, and your food intolerances.

Since pizzas are such a fun and personal thing, all toppings are estimated for this recipe instead of using specific measurements. Cater it to your tastes.  Just remember, a well covered pizza is good, but adding too many topping can interfere with baking all the way through.