Fancy Fruit Pizza

Having a summer party?  This pizza is definitely a crowd favorite.  I made this several years ago for a few Christmas parties and it went really fast.  Summertime is really the best time for this fruit-topped pizza, though, because everything is in season.

Even though I have a terrific family recipe for sugar cookies, the Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough in the tube works just as well. After you add all the fruit, it won't make much difference.  If you're making this for a party, you can make the cookie in advance, but you can't frost or top it until just before the party.  You don't want the cookie to become soggy.  I also recommend making this on a pizza stone or something else durable that you can use a pizza cutter with.

I have often wanted to make this again as individual servings.  You could make regular sized sugar cookies and frost and top them with different fruits.  If you want to give this a try let me know and make sure you take pictures.   I would love to see how that turned out.

Fancy Fruit Pizza

1 tube (18 oz.) sugar cookie dough               

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened         

1/3 cup sugar                                     

½ tsp. vanilla extract                         

2 medium firm bananas, sliced                     

2 tsp. lemon juice                                          

1 11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained

2 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced

1 pint fresh strawberries, halved

1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks, drained

1/3 cup orange marmalade

1 Tbs. water

On a greased 14-in. pizza pan (or pizza stone), press cookie dough into a 12-in. circle. Bake at 375º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over crust. Toss bananas with lemon juice.

Arrange the pineapple, strawberries, bananas, kiwi and oranges over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Combine marmalade and water; drizzle over fruit (yields 12 servings).

This first pizza was from a Christmas party several years ago.

This second picture is from a summer party.

I hope you enjoy this.  It's really delicious!

See a full index of The Orange Skillet Recipes here.

Pizza Casserole

This casserole came to me via Pinterest.  I have found some great recipes on there, but this is an absolute favorite.  I have modified it a bit since I first made it, so here's the best version.  Originally, it had three types of meat in it; pepperoni, sausage and ham.  It was a bit much, so I opted to remove the ham.  

The pasta I use for this is farfalle or bow tie pasta.  It's one of my favorites, but you can certainly choose whichever pasta you like the best.  I believe that different shapes work better depending on the sauces or other ingredients that they're meant to accompany.  

Pizza Casserole

12 – 16 oz. Bow Tie Pasta

1 lb. mild pork sausage

1 med – large onion, chopped

Red Pepper Flakes

2 Tbs. Chopped Garlic

1 tsp. dried oregano

45 oz. spaghetti sauce (rough amount)

1 package pepperoni

3-4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta, drain (do not rinse).

Cook onion, red pepper flakes, garlic, and oregano with sausage until no pink remains in sausage, drain.

In a large pot, combine sausage mixture, pasta and spaghetti sauce. Layer this mixture in 13 x 9 dish with mozzarella cheese and freshly shredded Parmesan then top each layer with pepperoni. Two layers is plenty.

Bake at 375º for 20-30 minutes.  Allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.

This is one of my favorites.  It's also great for leftovers. I hope you enjoy!

See a full index of The Orange Skillet Recipes here.