I’m writing this as we drive home from Disney World.
Before we left, we had our final picnic supper for baseball season, and the unanimously requested repeat meal was Pizza Pockets!
But it’s summer, and I was packing for our trip, and I just didn’t have it in me to make even the easy-recipe dough from scratch. So I adjusted an idea I’d heard and created a version of pizza pockets that the kids could make.
And they were wonderful!
My best friend’s kids participated in a cooking class where they made a similar recipe with turkey and cheddar cheese. (I asked if the teacher had a blog, so I could link to her, but she doesn’t.)
Pizza Snowballs
Ingredients:
Canned biscuits (I’ve decided we like to use the small biscuits instead of Grands because the snowballs end up better proportioned)
Pepperoni (or cooked and crumbled Italian sausage)
Shredded mozzarella
Pizza sauce (for dipping!)
Muffin tins
Instructions:
Spray the muffin tins with cooking spray. (It turns out this isn’t the best job for a 5yo.)
Use kitchen scissors to cut the canned biscuits into four pieces each.
Chop the pepperoni into small pieces.
Hold three to four biscuit pieces in your hands and have mama sprinkle mozzarella cheese and pepperoni on them.
Pack and squeeze it all together like a snowball.
Place into the muffin tin.
Bake at 350 for around 15-17 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.
Mmmmm.
We LOVED these. Hubby felt like the ones with less dough were better. We had been using three pieces of biscuit for each one, but then started running out of pepperoni, so we made some with four. The ones with three were better proportioned.
Some (like the ones above) looked beautiful.
Some looked delicious.
And . . . further evidence that 5yos (at least the ones in my house) shouldn’t get the pan-spraying job.
These were perfect to take on our picnic.
And now for this week’s menu. We’re heading home after being gone for 10 days, and I have absolutely no idea what is in the freezer or the pantry.
I’m scared to see what’s in the fridge.
It’s tempting to not worry about making a menu, but I know that I need to. Summer fun and menu-planning-neglect don’t go well together. I’m making it simple as can be.
Monday – Salad with grilled chicken
We’re having our Father’s Day dinner since we spent all day Sunday driving. After a week of fun Disney food, hubby has requested something bland that’s heavy on veggies.
Tuesday – Tacos
For the summer, I’m having one of the boys cook dinner one night a week. The plan is that they will cook the same (simple) meal every time it’s their turn, and by the end of the summer they’ll be able to do it completely on their own. My 7 year old has chosen to make tacos.
Wednesday – Grilled Chicken and Baked Potatoes
Another bland meal sounds good.
Thursday – Chicken Fried Rice
It’s a family favorite and a great ultra-quick meal using the leftover chicken from Wednesday.
Friday – Out to Eat!
Saturday – Grill burgers
Be sure to check out more of my picnic ideas! Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches, Chicken/Black Bean Burritos, Fabulous Sub Sandwiches.
Julie (Sweetpea101506) says
One word… “yummmmmmmm”. Those look so delicious! I need to make these this week. Add some marinara dipping sauce and definite yummy-ness! Thanks for the idea Nony! Hope Disney was fun!
Livin In Duckville says
Cool!!! I JUST found some of those biscuits on sale for 87 cents yesterday!! They were about to expire (within a couple of days). I KNOW what we’re having for dinner. It’s the last week of school so The Lego King only has 1/2 days & The Princess has 2 regents this week too. Thanks, Noni & ‘chillens’!!
Jennifer says
Love the idea of having the kids learn a new meal over the summer … going to try this!
susan says
Those look so yummy!! We have done that with crescent rolls and made a “ring ” out of them – using 2 cans of crescent rolls to make a wreath shape,overlapping them, filling them, and folding the ends over.
My youngest daughter was in Disney/Universal when you were for her Senior trip. I showed her your pic and told her to find you and get your autograph for me. Obviously she failed at her mission!!
Hope you and your family had as much fun as she did!!!
Nony says
Oh, your comment made me smile! We did have a wonderful time! I’m pretty sure no one would have recognized me. Not that I tried to look different from the pic, but the sweat pouring from my face and my crazy-frizzy Florida hair probably created a disguise of sorts!
susan says
HAHA – my daughter has naturally curly hair. You should see her pics!! LOL Especially since we are sort of from the same dry region as you (norman,ok) she did not know what to do with the humidity!! You know it’s bad when the front desk clerk at the hotel offers you spontaneous advice on your hair!!
PS – she is the one that helped duct tape the cup covered spider to our dining room floor!!
Nicki says
I love this idea!!!! I love pizza too. Doing this with my boys this week!!!! Thank you so much for the idea. Love to find things to get them in the kitchen.
Elizabeth @ MomCooks says
I can’t wait to try Pizza Snowballs with my kids, thanks for the tip! Happy Menu Monday 🙂
Sharon says
I LOVE the idea of having the kids learn to make one meal on their own! My 12 year old knows how to make many things, and my 11 year old can do quesadillas, but he and my 7 year old will now learn a new meal every few months using your method. I think your pizza thingies are perfect for the 7 yo to start with THIS WEEK!
Emily says
I will definitely be trying these! They look sooooo much easier than the pizza balls I tried last time!
Absentminded Mother says
I like your idea of the kids making dinner. Is your plan that they actually use the stove? I wasn’t sure what the best age would be to introduce that. I let my 7 year old help with mac and cheese on the stove but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
Nony says
It’s a tough question, and I think it depends on the kid and definitely requires close supervision. My 7yo has been making scrambled eggs, or fried egg for a while, so I think he’ll do ok with the ground beef if I’m at his side.
Sherry says
What a cute idea! They sound delish!
Good Enough Mommy says
I, too, love the idea of the kids cooking. As I read the idea I thought, I’ll have to remember that for when my kids are older. Then you said your 7 year old. My daughter is 7 and she would love to make a meal all on her own. What great inspiration and motivation for me. I agree with Sharon, this might be a great recipe to start with.
Nony says
My 5 year old assumes that she’s going to get to make a meal too, but she is a little too young. I think I’m going to try to come up with a casserole that she can assemble and feel like she did it all.
Becky says
How about hashbrown casserole/cheesy potatoes/funeral potatoes? It has so many names, but it’s really easy to make. We turn it from a side dish to a meal by adding cubed ham. If you’re ok with her using scissors to chunk up some ham, that could be doable. (NOT WW friendly though 🙁 )
We made these last night. I’m not a fan of biscuits, and since I didn’t have many of the ingredients anyway, I had hubby stop and grab pizza dough in a can and pepperoni. My 4 year old couldn’t make the snowball, and I had trouble with the pizza dough not wanting to “stick” to the ingredients. Just an FYI for those using pizza dough… Also, one can of pizza crust only made 10 snowballs. They tasted great though! We dipped them in marinara.
From Cristin To Mommy says
those pizza snowballs look yummy. i may make them with a little sauce and freeze them for easy lunches for myself. i bookmarked the fried rice. i love fried rice and never made it at home.
i’d love if you checked out my Menu Plan for this week
Jen says
Loved the snowball pizzas. My kids have allergies so we used soy products. All 3 of them gave them a 2 thumbs up, which is very hard to do all the time. A new winner in my back pocket! Thanks!
Nony says
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them!
Melissa says
Love the pizza snowballs idea! Will be great for a quick, cheap meal on a weeknight (or busy weekend). 🙂 (Or lazy weekend). 😉 Since we had pizza earlier this week, I think I will try to make snowballs tonight with turkey, cheddar cheese and broccoli instead. Hope it works!
And I love the idea of having a kid repeat a certain meal until they have enough experience to feel comfortable with it. 🙂 I’ve been letting mine (my oldest is 6 and then I have 5-yr-old twins, too) help out more in the kitchen but plan to have them each do one dinner a night when they get older. I’ll have to remember this tip to repeat one meal for a while til they get the hang of it. Thanks again! 🙂
Rock Kitaro says
lol, lovely photos, I love the pan shot afterwards.
Deb says
I’m making these now. Hoping they turn out … pot luck at work tomorrow.
Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect says
I just saw this on Pinterest. I didn’t even know it was going to bring me here. 🙂 These look really good! (And you get extra Super Mom points for letting the kids help you make them in the first place!)
Nony says
They’re messy, but so fun!
Marni says
These were DELICIOUS! My picky almost 5 year old LOVED them! I will be keeping this recipe!
Nony says
Yay! I’m so glad!
Diane Johnson says
Tried these for the First time we loved them taking them to a football party this afternoon.
ShannonP says
We are trying these tonight. I will be adding olives to half of them (for the kids that like lives, but not for the mommy that doesn’t like olives).
Bobbi says
Just want to get your permission to post on Pinterst. Thanks.
Nony says
Of course! Feel free to pin anything from this site!
Emily says
I make these for my family a lot. They are so yummy! I’m actually linking your blog with my next post. These snowballs inspired me to make a breakfast version that are fantastic as well. Thanks!
Tommie says
Thanks! These were a hit tonight with my teenagers! Easy as well.
Wendy Coffman says
We did these today with GF buttermilk biscuits – yum!! Thank you!
Nony says
Love that! So glad you liked them!
emily says
Made these this morning for a ‘fun’ last day of school lunch for my daughter. Her teacher came over and asked if she had any leftovers he could try 🙂 Nope! She did tell him how to make them, so he’s going to go home and try them.
Great tip on the paper sack. We were running a little late and they were still pretty warm.
Eva says
I cannot wait to try these out! My girls are going to love them! Blessings!
korinda says
Hi this sounds like a great recipe i want to try it because i play volleyball and we have many away games and as everyone knows that money is limited these days. So it always comes in handy to just make stuff from scratch instead of spending a bunch of money at mcdonalds or some place. and i was wondering if these were just as yummy cold as they are warm
Jennifer says
Just wanted to say that I LOVED your Disney Dinner site.
Started reading your blog backwards about a week or two again. I see myself, and, oh boy, I see my 12 year old daughter. She just doesn’t get it at all. I finally got fed up with her leaving her dishes on the table, at various spots since she moved around, and started stacking them at her normal dinner time place. When she went to eat dinner that night, at of the dishes from the past 24 hours were there. She had to move them all before she could eat. She finally got the point, but often still forgets her glass.
Nony says
I’m so glad you liked the Disney site! I’m currently turning it into an e-book, so I’ve been re-living our trip and want to go back!
And that’s so funny what you did for your daughter! Glad it worked!
J.R. Wilkins says
SOUNDS PERFECT….I have a wife that is pregnant,and I have been trying to assume some of the daily tasks that my wife usually takes care of.(yeah yeah how sweet)lol.I have also been doing as much as I can to keep my 7 year old daughter from feeling pushed aside.So I can not wait till she gets off the bus and I can tell her that her and I will be doing dinner together..this is just the thing a dad needed to raise his little girl over the top ..thank you
Rubyanne says
don’t think we have canned Biscuits in Australia, we have cookie dough buy it’s sweet, what could I use instead?
Dana White says
No canned biscuits?? I’m sad for you! Do you have any kind of pre-made bread dough? Or you could just make biscuits or bread dough and then pull or cut it into pieces.
Amanda says
These are unreasonably good. I don’t know why I waited so long to try them. All 6 kids LOVED them. Thanks Nony!
Dana White says
So glad to hear!!
Holly says
My 8 year old made these last night. I hate scrubbing muffin tins, so I used paper liners, and we sprayed those. The kids loved them, even the 19 year old, who wasn’t going to try them!
Dana White says
Great idea to use the liners!!