Hypothetically speaking, say you have a two door car. Said car is about 8 years old. You've owned said car for 7 years. It has been great to you, but you had a baby about a year ago and getting baby in and out of a two door car is annoying. To say the least. The plan is to replace the car when your husband graduates from school and starts working, hopefully within 7-9 months. Then imagine that said car needs new tires, new brakes and is closing in on 100,000 miles. Do you pull the plug and trade it in? Or do you put the maintenance into it?

As you might have guess from the hypothetical example, this has been the stress on my mind for the past week or so. I hate making big decisions involving money. And cars. Somehow, no matter what I do, I always feel like someone is out to rip me off when it comes to cars. Does anyone else feel this way? I'm not normally a paranoid person.

I'm getting my mind off this dilemma by deep breathing exercises, walks around the block (hooray for nice weather) and these pizza wheels. Because seriously, how can you be stressed when you get to eat something this fun for dinner? As you might imagine, they are basically the goodness of pizza, all wrapped up in a cute roll. It makes for a great dinner or an equally great appetizer. They are slightly different from pizza in that you season a tomato paste instead of using a tomato sauce. The tomato paste is thicker and stays in a wheel shape much better than a sauce would. It gives them a more tomato-y flavor than pizza, though, so be warned if you are not a tomato fan. They also use less cheese than you'd find on a pizza, so they are a little healthier. (Or so I tell myself when I eat four at a time.) The fillings are what make the wheels, in my mind. Ham and fresh pineapple are delicious in them, or try some mini pepperoni or cooked sausage. Or a combination of the two. It's a great chance to be creative and use up leftovers from the fridge.

Pizza Wheels

By HeatOvenTo350 Published 05/10/2013

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cups flour plus extra for kneading and rolling
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2/3 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram or basil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion*
• 3/4 cup diced fresh pineapple* 
• 3/4 cup diced ham*
• 1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and yeast. Stir in milk and olive oil.
2. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead until well combined and smooth. Shape into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
3. Roll out dough on a floured surface to a 12x18 inch rectangle. Stir together tomato paste with oregano, marjoram, garlic and honey and spread tomato paste over dough surface.
4. Evenly spread onion, pineapple, ham and cheddar cheese over rectangle.
5. Starting on the long side of the dough rectangle, roll the dough jelly roll-style and slice into 16 slices. Place each slice on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake until cooked through and starting to brown, about 22-27 minutes.
6. Serve warm.

*Note: The filling is what makes these rolls. If you don't like ham and pineapple, try 1 cup mini pepperoni, or 1 cup crumbled sausage. You could also make this vegetarian with 3/4 cup sauteed mushrooms and 3/4 cup cooked chopped green peppers. Be creative!

Yield: 16 wheels
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min

Recipe Source: Adapted from wholefoodsmarket.com

Posted in: Main Dish