Pizza Cups, a Lunchbox Revelation

Pizza cups are an answer to prayer for our lunchboxes. They are easier to eat and stay nicer than sandwiches.  They can be stashed in the freezer for a panic-free lunch-packing session.  The children love them unequivocally.  I can make them with whole foods.  We love everything about them!

I found the concept online somewhere (Pinterest, maybe?), but I made it my own.  I'm giving you the blueprint, and then you can plug in your biscuit recipe.  I'll give you the pizza sauce recipe, too, since it's a good one and so easy.

How to make pizza cups:

1.  Make a batch of biscuit dough.  I make whole wheat Basic Biscuits from More with Less.
2.   Divide the biscuit dough into 12 cups in a regular-sized muffin tin (for reference, my biscuit recipe uses 2 cups of flour and I got 11 pizza cups total). 
3.  Press the dough into little crusts, like little bowls inside each muffin cup.  Children love to do this. 
4.  Put 1-2 Tbsp. pizza sauce in each one.  Top with 1-2 Tbsp. grated cheese and any other pizza toppings you love.  (Here I discovered that we were out of mushrooms, so I used green olives.) 
5.  Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.  Serve warm, or allow to cool and then freeze.

Pizza Sauce (tweaked from Simply in Season)
The awesome awesome awesome thing about this recipe is that you do not have to peel the tomatoes.  Just remove their little brown stem spot at the top and whiz-wheeeee in the food processor!  I don't know exactly why, but there won't be any hard little shreds of skin when the sauce is done; my theory is that the long cooking softens them completely.  The sauce is robust and fresh-tasting and fabulous.  I triple this recipe and can or freeze a batch or two at the end of summer.

Puree in blender or food processor until as smooth as possible:
2 lbs. very ripe tomatoes, cut in rough chunks
1 small onion, chopped roughly
1 chili pepper or a sprinkling of red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic

Pour puree into saucepan.  Add:
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1-2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
Italian herbs to taste (I like it rather herby and I use dried herbs:  heavy on basil and oregano, with some thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and a pinch of fennel)

Bring to a simmer and then keep it at a simmer, uncovered, over low heat for at least 1 hour, preferably 2.  You want the sauce to reduce and thicken.  Check the flavors.  I usually add a few more pinches of herbs and sometimes I simmer it almost 3 hours.  Your house will smell delicious.

 

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