*sponsored by Hormel® Pizza Ready™
Preschool, diapers, laundry, meal prep, and a new baby? No problem! Well actually, there is a bit of a problem. See, that list is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mountain of responsibilities and changes going on in our household right now. When our home life gets chaotic, I admit quality time activities and food variety are the first things to go. I find myself slacking in those areas when the cleaning, cooking, and round-the-clock childcare gets overwhelming.
During our recent peanut butter and jelly sandwich rut, when I was about 87 weeks pregnant and dreading any chores at all, we embraced the concept of convenience and indulged in some Pizza Ready items by Hormel.
We already make homemade pizzas quite a bit since I enjoy experimenting with crust. However, making them completely from scratch is a bit more time consuming, which can be problematic with multiple young children whining for dinner. One thing that cuts the whining is letting the kids get involved with making choices about dinner. That is where some personalized pizzas save the day! The fact that Hormel® Pizza Ready™ makes this super convenient is a bonus.
The Pizza Ready line includes easy flat bread crusts, a variety of sauces, and toppings to use as a start for your on-the-fly pizzas or even as the whole meal.
My kids love the crispness of the flat bread crust and I love the ease and short cook time.
I place the flat bread on our baking stone and heat them for four minutes at 425ºF. We pull them out and use one Pizza Ready sauce packet for three crusts. My son loves the sausage sauce and his two year old sister likes pepperoni. They both love the olives in the meat & veggies variety. I like the short ingredient list on the package and that it doesn’t include soybean oil. We add shredded cheese, but only a thin layer since you don’t want to overload the thin crust.
For some funny reason unknown to me, my kids love fresh basil on the Hormel pizzas even though they reject it on everything else I make. A little bit of fresh herbs from our garden, and another four minutes in the oven, gives us an easy lunch or dinner for the kids that doesn’t cater to our PB&J rut! My daughter loves the flat bread pizzas so much, she often finishes her brother’s left overs. Last time we made what the four year old calls “snack pizzas” (because they are that quick!), we had to make an extra for Dad to be fair.
Only the sausage flavor of sauce pack contained corn syrup, so I am fairly comfortable with the ingredients. I rarely see a frozen pizza without corn syrup in the meat. The Hormel Pizza Ready line gives me more control over the ingredients and takes less time to bake than a frozen pizza, so I am a fan overall. Even if I use my own tomato sauce, I still like the flat breads for how easy and quick they are to use. I envision using Tex-Mex ingredients for burrito pizzas, or avocados and sprouts for a chilled brunch style appetizer. Of course, Hormel Pizza Ready also has alfredo sauce and a chicken topping available for those who like the creamy style pizza.
Using the occasional convenience product for making dinner is a great way to make this transitional time for our family go more smoothly. If I can make an emotional cry fest turn into this:
Then I’ll take it.
The Hormel Pizza Ready line is currently available at Cub Foods stores, premiering in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area.
*Sponsored by Hormel® Pizza Ready™. While this is sponsored content, all opinions and experiences are my own. Thank you for supporting Just Add Cloth.
