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Stuffed Pizza Skulls | Pizza Pockets

Let these Stuffed Pizza Skulls be the star of the Halloween party this year. Simple to make and frightfully delicious, these pizza pockets will impress any ghoulish crowd.

Hosting a Halloween dinner party?

My family loves Halloween. Although insanity is not an option, during the Halloween season (you know…from September 1st through October 31st), I kind of walk the line. I go ~~a little~~ totally overboard with decorations. I buy new things each year, online and in stores. I come up with new Halloween crafts to try. I make costumes and I buy costumes. And I plan Halloween menus, as every mother should! This year is a little more overboard than most (I know *gasp*) because it’s Bubby’s 10th birthday and he’s going to have a spooktacular costume party birthday bash…at my house…with like 10 to 12, 9 and 10 year old boys. Hold me. Making sure there’s plenty of good and ghoulish food on hand is going to be key to keeping these monsters at bay. These Stuffed Pizza Skulls are most assuredly on the menu!

A skull cakelet everyone needs!

It all started with a Facebook post. A friend posted a video of some super easy stuffed pizza skulls and I went on a mission to find a pan to make this happen. The damned thing was $45 on Amazon. Holy high dollar cakelet, skull man! So I did some more searching and found this beauty (and might I say it’s a super high-quality beauty) on Perigold for just $27. SOLD! Let me just say, this is not a sponsored post and I paid for this out of my pocket. I’d never even heard of Perigold before, but you can bet your witch’s ass I’ll be shopping there again. Super quick shipping, great discounts, high quality, and they have so. much. stuff! Note: You do have to pay shipping, but it was still WAY cheaper than Amazon (I know, I’m shocked too!).

Tips for making perfect stuffed pizza skulls!

Knowing I couldn’t let down a group of 9 to 10 year old boys (kids are mean, y’all), we decided to do a test run. They came out pretty good for a first shot, but here are some tips I wasn’t smart enough to figure out the first time.

Don’t overstuff. Look, I’m an over stuffer. We’re talking pizza and you can never have enough sauce or cheese. Never. Except with these Halloween pizza pockets. If you use more than the quantities listed in the recipe, you’ll have blowouts (see above photo on the left – those are the just cheese pizza skulls that I overstuffed).
Lay the pizza dough into all 6 cavities as soon as you cut it. If you try to do these one at a time, the dough gets pretty hard to work with and stretch.
If you’re making multiple varieties of these pizza pockets – we made 2 cheese, 2 ham and cheese, 2 pepperoni and cheese, place the pizza pockets with the meat in them in the outside slots. They cook better that way and the ones in the middle, with just cheese, won’t burn up.

Stuffed Pizza Skulls

Course Appetizer

Keyword stuffed pizza skulls

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6

Author Christy

Ingredients

1 can prepared rolled pizza dough
1.5 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 tsp Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup pizza sauce
18 slices pepperoni
1-2 tbsp Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Spray skull mold with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Unroll pizza dough and stretch or roll into a 21x 8-inch rectangle with the long edge closest to you. Cut into six even strips.
Lay dough into skull cavities, press down lightly, and leave flaps over pan for closing the pizza pockets.
Into each cavity, layer 1 tablespoon shredded mozzarella, 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan, 1 tablespoon pizza sauce, 3 pepperoni, another tablespoon sauce, 1 more tablespoon mozzarella, and a sprinkle of seasoning.
Fold dough over fillings and pinch dough together to seal, making sure edges are sealed tightly. Repeat for the five remaining pizza pockets.
Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and let cool slightly, flip plan onto serving platter.
Serve with warmed pizza sauce and additional Parmesan cheese for topping.

Recipe Notes

You can use any topping you like instead of the pepperoni. Try chunked ham, diced veggies, or just add a little shredded cheddar in for a 3-cheese pizza pocket.

More freakishly fun food ideas:

We can’t wait to make these Stuffed Pizza Skulls again and I’m sure your little goblins will love them as much as mine do! We’ll also be serving up bloody witch fingers (mini sausages in BBQ sauce), Pizza Dough Spider Dip Bowls, Bloody Shirley Temples, and Eyeball Chili. What’s on your Halloween dinner party menu? I’d love to hear in the comments below. Recipe links are more than welcome!

How to Cope with BTS Mom Blues

By Christy Leave a Comment

While most parents rejoice during back-to-school season, some of us suffer from the BTS Mom Blues. Probably not a clinical term, but a real condition. Try practicing these five ways to cope with BTS Mom Blues to combat your loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

What are the BTS Mom Blues?

While many of you are cheering back-to-school season and cherishing your quiet time alone, there are others, like myself, feeling empty and blue. While you may feel that you are getting SO MUCH DONE in these first few days, weeks, months, some of us can’t concentrate or get motivated enough to get anything done.

These issues and many more, my happy-go-lucky-loving-your-empty-day-nest friends, are called the BTS Mom Blues. And it’s rough! I’m prone to tears at any given moment, I have the television on mindless shows for “white noise”, every time I get out of a meeting, I look up expecting one of them, any of them, to immediately need something from me.

But they don’t. They aren’t even here. I’m all alone in my house. Just me, no noise other than the constant pecking of these keys.

Coping with the BTS Mom Blues!

If you miss frolicking with your kids during the care-free summer days, and if you’re a sufferer like me, I have some tips for coping you should try. You might not want/need to listen, but believe me, at this point I’m an expert with six kids and a total of 29 years full-time parenting under my belt (with a 9 and 11 year old still at home!).

Tip 1: Let them know you’re OK!

When they go to school on the first day, and all the subsequent days, let them know you’re OK with it. Sounds silly, but telling them helps you convince yourself. Added bonus for giving them that added boost of courage and confidence. Mom “wins” help you cope with your BST Blues.

Tip 2: Let them be unicorns!

I know this one might sound a little trite, cliché even, but really it’s not at all. For those of us who suffer the BTS Mom Blues, we need to remember that our children need to be unique and forge their own paths in life. If we keep them with us all the time (which is truly what I want to do other than the occasional date night, etc.), we don’t give them the space they need to make friends, become stronger, learn more, and just grow up to be amazing humans…all on their own!

Tip 3: Make the most of together time!

No brainer here. When they get off of school, finish up your work, help them with homework, then let them help make dinner for the night or lunches for the next day. You’ll begin to realize that the time you spent alone wasn’t so bad after all and it just makes you appreciate your time together that much more!

Tip 4: Use the TV for mindless white noise!

During the day, if you feel it’s too quiet to function, like I do, since you’ve grown so accustomed to the chaos, turn on the TV for some white noise. Keep the volume low so as not to distract you from your work, but the background noise will actually help raise your productivity. Trust me, I know from experience. Don’t turn on something that will suck you in, of course, because that’s counter productive. I suggest Jerry Springer (yes, I’m serious) or something similar. Lots of fighting, no resolution. Just like when the kids are at home!

Tip 5: Remember that you deserve alone time!

As moms, I think this one is the hardest. I almost think guilt plays a HUGE part in the BTS Mom Blues. We need to be needed in all aspects of our lives. Home, work, husband, kids, you name it; we need to be needed so we feel a sense of emptiness if any of those aspects aren’t with us at all times. Break the cycle. They need you, whether they are with you in the moment or not, they need you. Remember that every time you start to feel blue.

That’s about it. I guess I’m not much on advice since I still suffer this horrible ailment (at least for the first half of the school year) every year, but that’s my advice in a nutshell. Seems simple, straight forward, and somewhat elementary (see what I did right there?), but it’s how I get through these days and I’m hoping it will help y’all out too. Hang in there, mommas, we got this. What advice do you have for beating the BTS Mom Blues? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!

Family Fun at iT’Z Pizza Pasadena TX

By Christy Leave a Comment

Looking for family fun in the Houston area? iT’Z Pizza Pasadena TX is where it’s at. Endless pizza, pasta, salad, desserts, and more, plus video games, laser tag, bowling, bumper cars, and even a bar. iT’z the affordable place to be in Houston!

Endless Food at iT’Z Family Food & Fun

The minute you walk in the door, you’re greeted by a friendly staff where you can check in or buy your tickets for the day. Once the business-like stuff is over, it’s time to dive in…to endless food! Literally, endless pizza, salad, pasta, chicken, mashed potatoes, desserts, and more. It’s all buffet style, it’s replenished regularly, and even with my picky bunch (I’m probably the worst!), there’s plenty for everyone to eat.

Just so you know, I’m a pizza snob. A snob, I say. Growing up in upstate New York will do that to a person. That said, I like the pizza at iT’Z. It’s fresh, cheesy, plenty of toppings, and if they don’t have what you like, they’ll make you whatever you want (as long as they have the ingredients – don’t go all psycho on the topping choices!). I was super hungry so I got excited to see that they had a veggie pizza (my fave) with marinara. I have no clue why most pizza buffets use Alfredo for veggie pizzas. Duh, we’re vegetarians, we absolutely do like tomatoes! But I digress…

Of course, they have the meat lovers covered too. There were literally about 20 varieties of pizzas out at any given moment and all were fresh. You don’t get that over at the place with the mouse!

The salad is FRESH and there are so many options, from the lettuce to the toppings to the dressing. Soooo good! You can’t eat pizza without salad. It’s a scientific fact. I’m glad the folks at iT’Z gets that.

Can we just talk about this hummus for a sec? Creamy, rich, roasted red pepper hummus and pita chips. If you have an addictive personality, stay away from this hummus.

Just in case I haven’t talked about food enough (you’d think a 95-pound grown up woman could think of something else to talk about), there’s dessert. All the dessert. So many desserts. And did I mention it’s endless? That’s right. If you buy the Biggest Deal Package for just $28.99 each, you get unlimited video games, mini bowling, laser tag, and more, plus you get one free game of regular bowling with shoe rental AND unlimited food and fountain drinks….for the whole day. The whole day, people!

The fun starts here!

OK, sorry about all of the food talk, this girl was hangry when we got there, but the real fun starts here!

Why iT’Z Pasadena TX for us?

Well, here’s the thing. We live on an island, a tourist town, and although there is a lot to do in Galveston, we’ve pretty much done it all and sometimes we need a change of scenery. We don’t want to break the bank and we need to find something that two adults, a brassy tween cheerleader, and an elementary school straight A student can all enjoy. That’s a hefty task, but iT’Z offers us that. We can all have fun; together, alone, and in pairs. It’s a beautiful thing!

Eyes on the prize!

The straight A student is a serious gamer. Like, we all believe we’ll be living in wings of his mansion when he grows up. When he’s playing for tickets, it’s eyes on the prize, baby…EYES ON THE PRIZE! Note: If you buy the Biggest Deal Package, you get a $5 fun card which equals 20 points to play the ticket games.

The fun goes on forever. Air hockey, anyone?

Bubby would literally spend ALL DAY at laser tag. Well, he kinda did, but that’s OK because he had fun!

Bumper cars? You betcha!

Kylee loves hitting things, so the bumper cars are therapeutic for her.

Regular bowling is very colorful at iT’Z Pasadena TX.

But if handling 10-lb balls isn’t your thing (yes, I really said that), they have mini bowling too!

What’s in it for the adults?

For us, lots of shoot-em-up video games (don’t judge) are great. Stress relievers are fun and I oddly find shooting dinosaurs amazing! Also, at the end of the day, if you have a DD, there’s an adults-only bar outside of the bowling alley that you might want to stop by. Looks like a lot of fun!

Grab the deal and have some fun!

Not in the Pasadena TX area so you’re a little bummed about missing this deals and fun? They have locations in Euless TX and Willowbrook (Houston) TX too and you can take advantage of the fun and BOGO Biggest Deal savings right now at any of their locations. Buy one Biggest Deal at regular price ($28.99 plus tax) and get one Biggest Deal Free! All day food, fun, and family together time. It doesn’t get much better than that, so what are you waiting for?

Disclosure: I received a family 4-pack to iT’Z Family Food & Fun through a partnership with US Family Guide, however, all opinions are my own.