DIY Frozen Pizzas

My friend Ally from Ally's Sweet and Savory Eats shared her own version of these a long time ago. They've been on my mind ever since. Every freezer swap they always make it on my list of ideas, but then I determine that they're just not easy for everyone to transport in coolers back home. They were one of the first ideas on my paper while brainstorming this whole series.

And by golly, I'm sure glad I finally gave it a try. I dislike the way most frozen pizzas taste, they're as thin as cardboard and if I'm going to spend $4-$5 on something I sure want to enjoy it. We've come to the point where we rarely even order takeout pizza, I think homemade just tastes so much better. And for $30, I think I can make quite a few pizzas!

I spent a couple hours on Saturday making up six homemade pizzas for the freezer. I figured I would make it worth my while and glad I made the double batch of dough. Assembling the pizzas were a piece of cake. It didn't take long at all.

Now when we're craving pizza or am running low on time for dinner, I can pull a couple of these out and we've got dinner on the table within thirty minutes. I'm also thinking these will be great to have on hand for gifting others with a meal. New moms, a friend that just had surgery or a neighbor having a rough day. Surprise them with a pizza, they can bake it that day or save it for another time. I will definitely be making a point to keep my freezer stocked with a few pizzas at all times!

DIY Frozen Pizzas

Directions:

I always use this dough recipe, it's my favorite and makes enough for 3 pizzas. I even started using half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose to make it a bit more healthy and it still tastes great. Make sure to have all of your favorite toppings out and ready for use before you get started.

* Roll out pizza dough onto a round pizza pan. Bake for 5 minutes at 375 degrees. The dough will be just set at this point.

* Remove from oven. Using a spatula, gently lift dough just a bit from the pan. You want to make sure the dough isn't sticking and will be easy to remove later.

* Begin adding desired toppings to each pizza. For the meat trio; I use a regular tomato based pizza sauce, then layer on smoked ham (or canadian bacon), pepperoni and crumbled sausage. Then sprinkle mozzarella cheese over toppings. Green peppers, mushrooms and onions would also be great additions.

The buffalo chicken has: a thin layer of buffalo sauce spread on the bottom of the crust, topped with a light layer of cheddar cheese, shredded chicken, diced celery and mozzarella cheese on top. You can drizzle extra sauce over top before adding the mozzarella cheese if you like.

* Place the finished pizzas in the freezer for at least one hour, possibly a little bit longer if needed. They should be frozen solid and easy to remove from the pan at that point.

* Wrap each pizza in layers of saran wrap. Make sure to add a label with the type of pizza and baking directions.

* Return pizzas back to the freezer until ready to enjoy. They should keep for up to 3 months...if they last that long!