Looking for weeknight dinner idea that are easy and make you and your kids happy? These pepperoni roll up are just the thing!
Kids are picky eaters. Plain and simple.
You know how kids don't like to eat anything you put in front of them? I mean, even if they told you just yesterday that it's their favorite thing in the whole world. You put it in front of them today and... they don't like it.
After complaining about this to a fellow mom for probably the umpteenth time, she gave me a little tip she probably read on Pinterest. Here was her tip: If include your kid in the preparation of the food they're more likely to want to eat it. In theory this sounded good but I was skeptical.
Get your kids involved in the cooking process. It works like magic!
It really does work! Like really, for real, actually, literally works. I couldn't believe it and you might not believe it either but just try it.
And actually, these pepperoni rolls ups are perfect recipe to test this theory. Let your kids put their own ingredients in their roll up and they will anxious await its arrival from the oven to their plate, and —wait for it — will gleefully scarf it down. It's pretty darn near a miracle.
The best part about these pepperoni rolls...
The real beauty of this recipe though? These babies are so fancy looking! So fancy in fact, you could and should dress them up with some homemade sauce and fresh basil and serve them for date night or a dinner party. No one will know or care they took 10 minutes to prep. Because, deliciousness.
Put the sauce on the side.
The Vermouth sauce. That's the fancy part that will make this something you actually want to eat. Put it on the side and kids can dry dipping their roll up in it if they want. Don't worry, the Vermouth cooks out.
Offer a variety of ingredients.
If you have picky eater, all you can do is offer. I pull out everything in the fridge that could possible be rolled into these dough pinwheels and I offer it up. From cheese to roasted red peppers to any meats I might have on hand. Anything you'd put on a pizza works. I let the kids make their own versions even if it's a cheese-only roll up because eventually maybe one day they will expand their horizons.
Easy Clean Up
If the kids get a little heavy handed with the cheese and you don't want to have to scrape crusted cheese from you baking sheet, use silicone baking sheets. The silicon sheets just wipe clean. Plus, the crusty cheesy is like the best part! So you want that to slide right off with the roll ups which happens nicely with the silicon.
Need more ideas?
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These pepperoni rolls were featured on Full Plate Thursday!
Pepperoni Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 16 oz pizza dough
- 4 oz sliced pepperoni about 40 slices
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 13 oz pizza or marinara sauce for dipping
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
Optional Ingredients
- ¼ cup sliced ham or salami
- ¼ cup roasted red peppers
Instructions
- Thaw pizza dough as needed, according to package. Slice dough into 4 parts. Flatten the dough until you have a long strips of dough about 3" wide by 8" long.
- Add pepperoni to each strip, overlapping them slightly.
- Layer ham, salami, and/or roasted red peppers if desired.
- Add mozzarella cheese to each.
- Roll up dough. Some cheese may fall out when you roll the dough. Just sprinkle it on top.
- Place onto cookie sheet greased with olive oil then brush dough lightly with olive oil.
- Bake at 350˚for 15-20 minutes or until rolls are golden brown in color and center of each roll is no longer doughy.
Looks like fun, going to try it!
Cool, Tiffany! I'd love to see how it turns out. If you get a chance to snap a photo and share it in the comments, I'll send you a little thank you gift in the mail. 🙂