National Pizza Day

  Hallelujah, it's National Pizza Day!  Heck, every day should be National Pizza Day. Check out my pizza celebration below with quick and easy Pizza Recipes, and a couple reviews of frozen Pizzas -- go ahead, dig in!

Pizza for breakfast? Yeah! Or if you are a late breakfast eater like I am, then this goes down deliciously mid-morning after a second cup of joe. So check out my video recipe below for a Quick Pizza with Egg to see how fast it all comes together.

Quick Pizza with Egg - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 1 minute, 24 seconds.

I'm surprised egg is not used more often on fast food pizza. Like the first slice into a Mexican Huevos Rancheros where the runny egg mixes with salsa and refried beans, or a Southern breakfast of sunny-side-up eggs with biscuits and gravy, it's all about mixing in a creamy egg yolk. And you have it all with a hot pizza right out of the oven.

It's a rich eating experience hitting all the right savory pleasure points with egg yolk, melty cheese, and pungent basil with tomato sauce.

Using pre-cooked pizza crust speeds up getting your meal to the table on time. Lately, I get precooked pizza crust cheaply at the Dollar Tree store a couple blocks away. While not the best pizza crust I've tried, the added toppings help make up for any dough deficiencies. If you find tasty pre-cooked pizza dough, do leave a comment and tell us all about it.

The trick to using a precooked pizza crust is to not overcook it, or it will dry out like a cracker. I cook my Pizza with Egg for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees in a preheated oven. As soon as the whites of the egg are solid and cooked, and the egg yolk is still runny, I immediately remove the pizza. Of course, be careful taking that first hot bite!

You could use fresh pizza dough from the deli case too, just back time it, that is, if it takes 20 minutes to cook the dough, then top the pizza with an egg during the last 10 minutes of baking.

If you can't find individual pizza crusts then slice a whole pizza crust to the size you like and work with that. It's easy enough to use the other half later, that is if you can stand the wait. Or make a whole regular-size pizza and add 2 or 3 eggs to the toppings.

I find many types of tomato sauce at dollar stores. Everything from portabella mushroom to meat-flavored, and chunky eggplant to just plain tomato sauce. There are even jars of "Pizza Sauce."

Get what you like in the can or jar, although I find a jar of tomato sauce easier to refrigerate and spoon from.

If you have a couple of cans of plain tomato sauce it's easy enough to make an Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce that does double-duty as a Pizza Sauce and Pasta Sauce. My recipe video below is easy to follow.

I kicked my Quick Pizza with Egg up a notch with fresh leaves of basil. I like to have a basil plant on my windowsill to pull leaves off. They go great in a Thai-style Basil and Chicken Stir Fry (my recipe is a click away here) and mixed into any favorite spaghetti dish.

You only need a few leaves as they are much more pungent than dried basil. But it's okay to sprinkle on a favorite Italian dried herb into any pizza tomato sauce you use.

Mozzarella is the preferred cheese for pizza toppings and I get small packets from 99c only Stores and Dollar Tree stores. For a serving or two, the small packets are a perfect serving size at about 3 to 5 ounces each.

I also find dried parmesan in a shaker container but it's not as good as dried wedges you find in a typical grocery deli case.

Eggs aren't as cheap as they used to be, especially if you use cage and are hormone-free. But I can still find regular eggs for around half a dozen for a buck. Every once in a while they are on sale for a dollar per dozen.

Top the pizza with one egg, or add a couple of them if you like. I like my egg yolks runny, but you can cook it a few minutes more, until similar to a soft-boiled texture.

And what's great about making your own mini-pizza is you can add as much cheese and tomato sauce as you like (or can afford.)

Tangy tomato sauce with pungent fresh basil leaves and melty cheese is the perfect platform for a fried egg. And it's so easy to do if you use packaged single serving sizes of pizza crust that are precooked like I do. Or if you have a leftover slice then break an egg over it, and heat the slice in a toaster oven.

Give my latest cheap$kate recipe a try, I know you will like it -- ciao and buon appetite!

You can make a traditional pizza too with this pre-cooked pizza crust. How about a Black Olive and Sausage Pizza?

All the ingredients are super cheap of course, everything from a can of olives to ground breakfast pork.

While breakfast pork is not Italian, you can make it pretty close by mixing in a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs, again easily found at Dollar Tree or the 99c only Stores.

So for about 6 bucks, I got enough Dollar Tree ingredients to make 4 individual pizzas (adding dried herbs I have at home,) with leftover pizza sauce, sausage, and plenty of olives.

What's nice is being able to add as much sauce, olives, and sausage as I wanted on each pizza. I had just enough mozzarella though, so could not go overboard with that.

I find that many budget premade individual pizzas lacking, mainly they are skimpy with meat and cheese. Using fresh pork sausage is so much tastier and I can crumble it into any size I like.

I use a pre-cooked crust, so the baking time is only about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, just enough time to heat all the ingredients and melt the cheese -- that's it!

My first seafood-topped pizza was from a small side-street restaurant during a Rome, Italy vacation. Some may blanch when served calamari, clams, and shrimp on a pizza, but how can you resist when it's paired with melted mozzarella and artichoke hearts?

I simplify things by using a 99.99 cent can of chopped clams. One can is enough for three small individual pita pizzas; all other ingredients are often found in local  99c only Stores, including pita bread (although regular local markets often have sales on canned minced clams and shredded mozzarella.

And pita bread is reasonably priced), you get eight pitas per package - talk about a great deal! These pita pizzas are delish with or without clams - make it your own by adding any favorite topping.

These budget pizzas are easy to make and are perfect for a party, or as a late-night cramming snack for all you overextended, financially strapped college students. All you need is a dorm buddy with a toaster oven!

Ingredients (for 3 pita pizzas)

• 3 pita bread rounds
• 1 can minced or chopped clams (6.5 oz.)
• 1 package shredded mozzarella (4 oz.)
• 3 tbsp. dried parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1 small 8 oz. can of tomato sauce or your favorite pasta sauce.
• 1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (6oz.) in oil or water, drained.
• 3 tablespoon of 99.99 cent olive oil blend
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs including - parsley, oregano, and sage (a pinch per pita)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Layout 3 pita rounds and top each with 3 tbsp. of tomato sauce and a small pinch of dried herbs, then cover with a layer of mozzarella cheese.

 Drain artichoke heart and minced clams; evenly distribute over pita pizzas and add a sprinkle of dried parmesan cheese. Finish with a drizzle (about a tbsp.) of olive oil.

 Bake for about 10 minutes -- cheese will melt, while the pita edge becomes crisp and just starts to brown.

And don't forget to mix it up with different toppings for a party. Just set out a plate of salami, cheese, cooked sausage, tomato sauce, olives, and any other favorites.

Time for a few Pizza Deal of the Day reviews. Many are adequate, and some are even quite tasty, that is if you sprinkle on some extra mozzarella!

When you think of Oprah Winfrey, pizza does not come immediately to mind. Well, she's jumped on the celebrity food product bandwagon. She has a line of frozen pizzas and I got one at my local 99c only Store. Don't know how it ended up there but I'm not complaining. 

It's a full-sized large pizza with a thick crust and loaded with pepperoni. So how does it rate on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best? Just check out my video below to get all the tasty details!

Unfortunately, this Deal of the Day is bleh. I mean it's not bad, just mediocre. And that goes for both Atkins Stone Fired Pepperoni and Cheese Pizza.

I know it's hard to find a tasty frozen pizza for a buck. One day I'll find what I'm looking for, just not yet.

In general, I like Atkins frozen meals that show up in my local 99c only Store's frozen case, like this one a click away, here.  

I first tried the Stone Fired Pepperoni Pizza. This one had 3 slices of pepperoni, not the four slices shown on the box cover - better supervision is needed at the Atkins pizza plant.

The main problem was the lack of tomato sauce and the lack of cheese. I guess to keep the price down they cut the cheese when adding pepperoni. I don't need a lot of tomato sauce, but this single serving had the tiniest smear. You would think since cans of tomato sauce are so cheap that they would ladle it on.

I thought the pepperoni slices were fine. Thin but spicy and pungent just like pepperoni should be. 

And the cheese was flavorful with mozzarella and parmesan. Like I said earlier, it could have used more. 

And finally, the pizza crust is medium thick and blistered. I prefer thin, but the dough is tasty enough -- Chicago and New York-style crusts have nothing to worry about here. 

So on the 99 Cent Chef's Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give Atkins Stone Fired Pepperoni Pizza a 4!

So on to the next Deal of the Day, Atkins Stone Fired Cheese Pizza. 

Now, this is more like it. This pizza has plenty of melty, gooey cheese, just the way I like it! It still has too little sauce, but the cheese amount almost makes up for it. 

While not the most flavorful mozzarella and parmesan, it's fine.  I think an extra shaving or two of parmesan cheese would do the trick.

And it has the same crust. I tried frying this frozen pizza on a George Forman-like grill for a better crust, but due to the thick dough it still did not crisp up enough, before the cheese started melting all over the place, and the too little tomato sauce almost evaporated away.

The ingredient list is too long for both pizzas, but that could be preservatives in the pepperoni and cheeses.

 Click on any photo to see larger.

So on the 99 Cent Chef's Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give Atkins Stone Fired Cheese Pizza a 6 ! It's a little better than bleh.

While I shouldn't complain too much about single-serving pizzas for a buck, I would recommend the Cheese Pizza over the Pepperoni.

Welcome to the real Hunger Games, with a battle royale between 2 pizza purveyors, Geno's and Celeste. In my latest Deal of the Day, it's mini pizzas going mano-a-mano and the winner gets the Chintzy Award for Best Cheap Pie. This is a cuisine made for dorm room keg parties and minimum-wage workday lunches.

I picked up each single-serving pie from the frozen deli case at this 99c only Store for 99.99 cents (or $1.) The pizzas are the perfect size for lunchtime appetites. I got the same toppings of cheese, pepperoni, and sausage on both. Normally I like a pizza hot from the oven, but for this meal showdown, I am going with the quicker microwave preparation. -- following the box directions.

Celeste
There is more tomato sauce and chunkier meat topping -- so you can really taste the Italian sausage and pepperoni. -- Celeste is a winner in the meat category. Also, larger lashings of mozzarella cheese make individual bites varied, as the ingredients are larger but spread out more. And the tomato sauce, while plain, binds all the flavors together. There is a silver crisping plate included

Jeno's
Italian herbs shine through in the tomato sauce. But the meat toppings are hard to discern, due to the small sizes. While Jeno's has a uniform flavor profile as all the parts are almost blended together in a pleasing way.

Funny, but Jeno's did not have a silver microwave crisper, so I used Celeste's.

I'm sure both single-serving pizzas would benefit from oven baking, but at my job (and most dorm rooms) there is only a microwave oven. So this is a test in real-world conditions. In both cases, the crust is a little mushy as expected, but they share a pleasing yeasty dough flavor.

Both pies are the same size and thickness. Jeno's looks like it has more toppings, but looks are deceiving. So on a scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give the Chintzy Award to Celeste, with a 6 rating. I preferred the chunkier sausage topping and larger treads of cheese. I also liked the simple tomato sauce flavor.

While Jeno's is the loser, I give them higher marks for a more intense overall Italian herb flavor. And I would buy both again for a cheapie lunch. But I am always on the lookout for a better single-serving chintzy pizza. If you know of one, then do leave a comment about it and I'll look for it.