Stuffed Pizza Sticks

 

Saturday night was spent having a fabulous time with great friends, it sure was fun but I am not used to staying out so late anymore.  Being ridiculously tired from the festivities of the weekend, I was not in the mood to cook dinner at all on Monday night.  I even skipped the gym.  Just when I was about to ask Terry to pick up some take out on his way home I remembered a really simple recipe that I had seen recently on Joe's blog, Culinary in the Desert, for Stuffed Pizza Sticks.  They seemed easy enough, and I had the ingredients on hand, so I gave them a try.

Stuffed Pizza Sticks 

(Adapted from Culinary in the Desert and Rachael Ray)

16 ounces prepared whole-wheat pizza dough (I used Joe's recipe from Culinary in the Desert.)
6 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup pepperoni, chopped
Diced green pepper

Diced red onion

Cooking spray Marinara sauce for dipping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Evenly divide dough into 4 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll each piece of dough into a large rectangle. Scatter the top of each rectangle, keeping one long edge clean, with the shredded cheese, basil, chopped pepperoni, green pepper and red onion. Fold the ends of the dough in on each rectangle, then starting with one long side (the one opposite of the clean side), roll dough up, jelly-roll style, pinching seam to seal.

Transfer logs to a parchment-lined baking sheet, pinched seam side down.  Lightly coat the sticks with cooking spray.  Place pan into the oven and bake until the logs are golden, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly. Serve with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

Makes 4 servings.

  

Evenly divide dough into 4 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll each piece of dough into a large rectangle.

  

. Scatter the top of each rectangle, keeping one long edge clean, with the shredded cheese, basil, chopped pepperoni, green pepper and red onion.

  

Fold the ends of the dough in on each rectangle.

  

Starting with one long side (the one opposite of the clean side), roll dough up, jelly-roll style, pinching seam to seal.

  

 Transfer logs to a parchment-lined baking sheet, pinched seam side down.  Lightly coat the sticks with cooking spray.  Place pan into the oven and bake until the logs are golden, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly. Serve with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

Stuffed Pizza Sticks were a great change of pace for Terry and me.  Although I enjoy the elaborate dinners that I often try to throw together it was really nice to make something that was simple, easy and delicious.  I thought that rolling them into their baking shape might be difficult, but I found it more simple to do than transferring  a thin pizza crust onto a pizza stone.  I made my own WW dough, but you could certainly just buy some prepared dough from your local grocery store. These pizza sticks can be stuffed with anything under the sun, just don't fill them too full or you might see some ingredients oozing out of your dough.  A side salad accompanied my pizza stick and Terry had his with, well, more pizza sticks.  Both of us really liked dipping them into the warm marinara sauce.  I am pretty pumped to try some new flavor combinations inside of the sticks.  These would be a blast to serve at a small sports party...I would recommend trying them the next time you feel like having a little fun in the kitchen.

-Heather