French Bread Pizzas for the Freezer

Note From Cheri: This recipe is meant to make individual French Bread pizzas that you store in your freezer until you're ready to heat them up for dinner. The recipe is healthy and low in fat. These are so easy to make, a child could do it. A six-pack of rolls makes 12, so this is a convenient number to make at a single outing, but this recipe is very adaptable -- just multiply the ingredients below by the number of pizzas you want to make. If you like dinners like those made by Lean Cuisine®, Weight Watchers® or Jenny Craig®, you'll love this homemade alternative. You'll save money and time (cook once and make twelve dinners), not to mention you can avoid unnecessary sodium and preservatives. And unlike the commercial versions, you can season these meals to suit your taste. For general information about cooking and packaging foods for the freezer, as well as more delicious, low fat freezer recipes, click here.

Timesavers: If you don't feel like making homemade sauce, use a jar of your favorite marinara or pizza sauce from the Supermarket.

Money Savers: If you have a bakery thrift store in your neighborhood, you can usually pick up the French rolls for a song.

Variations: You can add all kinds of veggies to these pizzas without significantly affecting the fat or calorie counts. Try chopped onions, green peppers, mushrooms or artichoke hearts. Just remember to blanch vegetables destined for the freezer. Olives also add great flavor, but they do add a small amount of fat as well.

Finishing Touches: Before serving sprinkle on some dried Italian herbs or some fresh basil. Finish off with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper if you like things hot.

Per Pizza 1/3 C pizza sauce (Ragu makes a good one or follow this link for a homemade sauce recipe) 6 slices low fat beef and turkey pepperoni 1 1/2 tablespoons grated mozzarella cheese 1 teaspoon grated Parmesan cheese one half long French roll

Cut each roll in half. Spread 1/3 cup sauce over the cut side of each roll, sprinkle with grated cheeses and top with pepperoni and other desired optional toppings. Wrap each pizza tightly in foil or other freezer wrap of choice and freeze. When you're ready to eat dinner, here's how to cook your pizzas: Conventional Oven: Preheat oven to 350°F and place unwrapped pizza on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Microwave Oven: I like this recipe best when cooked in a conventional oven, as it's difficult, if not impossible to get a crisp crust in the microwave (maybe you have better luck with browning trays then I). But if you must cook in the microwave, 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on high usually does the trick. Nutritional Info Per Pizza: Calories: 172; Calories from Fat 44; Total Fat: 4.8g; Saturated Fat: 2g; Carbohydrates: 21.6 g; Cholesterol: 16mg Sodium: 497mg; Protein: 25.4g; Dietary Fiber 0.5g.