Home economics classes seem like a stereotypical female rite of passage in the 1950s. But in 1998, my middle school home economics class was where I learned this recipe for “Pizza Puffs,” which I now affectionately refer to as Italian Savory Monkey Bread. It’s a delicious, incredibly simple and delightfully cheap way to make a homemade pizza of sorts without doing the work to mix even the simplest of crusts. Kudos to my home-ec teacher Ginger Patterson for sharing this recipe, which is easy enough for a young teenager to make with minimal adult supervision.

What You Need:

1 can of eight biscuits

your favorite pizza sauce (I like to make my own using fresh or canned tomatoes.)

shredded cheese (I like mozzarella best.)

desired additional toppings (pepperoni, cooked hamburger meat, vegetables, etc.)

What You Do:

1. Cut the biscuits into 4 pieces each and spread across the bottom of a thin casserole dish.

2. Cover the biscuits with the desired amount of sauce, add additional toppings of your choice and cover generously with cheese.

3. Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. (Your cooking time will vary based on your oven, the depth of toppings and how brown you want the biscuits and cheese.)

4. Let cool and break apart pieces to serve. The recipe will serve 2-4 people, depending on how hungry you are.

 

Matthew’s take: This is one of the first recipes I learned to make on my own (other than stir-fry, which I started making about the same time by experimenting with grilled chicken, cheese and green peppers in a pan on the stovetop). It’s a delicious recipe that is mostly homemade, without any real cooking going into it. That should appeal to people who don’t like spending a lot of time and effort making dinner, while also appealing to people who don’t want to spend a lot of money buying ingredients for a meal. Quite possibly the best part is that, like a full traditional pizza, you can eat the leftovers cold or warm. These get an A+ for ease and cost, an A for taste and a B for presentation. Other than the browned cheese, there’s nothing fancy about how they look, but taste is what matters most of all to me.

Molly’s take: Despite my well-known dislike for pasta/pizza sauce, I’m glad Matthew took a chance on making these for us. They’re very easy to make, inexpensive and quite tasty! I personally loved having sausage and pepperoni on them. The more meats the better! But that’s how I usually feel about pizza anyway. This had a deep-dish pizza taste to me, which I liked, and a good combination of meat, cheese, sauce and bread. Overall, a delicious and easy meal for a family to make, since it can feed up to four people, or a couple like us, who can have it for leftovers on another day. Overall grade: A. 🙂