This June has been a busy month for our family. It's the end of the school year, the county fair is in full swing and there is family in town for a graduation and a wedding. Of course, when I agreed to my assignment on the Rhodes blog, absolutely none of that even crossed my mind, with the exception of Tom's birthday falling just a couple of days before the deadline. As it got closer, it only got worse. So after my kitchen had been commandeered by Mike to make an unbelievably sick cake for his little brother's 18th birthday on the 11th, my fear was that I would be unable to fulfill my assignment at all. Guess what? This post was so easy that I did the recipe not only once, but twice! Out of necessity, of course...and on the day of Tom's graduation! You will need: 2 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed to room temperature, for each mini pizza and your favorite pizza toppings. I had some spaghetti sauce left-over from making lasagna on Sunday...worked great! Add some pepperoni, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, olives and bell peppers and you are good to go. 1. Count out the rolls by two's for as many pizzas as you need to make. Spray the bottom of the cookie sheet with non-stick spray; place the rolls on the cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, spray the TOP of the plastic wrap and then flip it over to cover the rolls. This will keep the plastic wrap from sticking to the rolls. 2. Set this aside for about 2 hours, until the rolls are defrosted, but not rising yet. Take two of the rolls and combine them. I just put one on top of the other, kind of squished it together and then rolled it out with a rolling pin. You will want it to roll out to be about a 6" circle. 3. Poke the rolled out circles a bunch of times with a fork - this will keep the dough from bubbling. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350° for 10 minutes; let cool a few minutes. When I pulled them out of the oven, it looked like the crusts, although they didn't bubble, had risen slightly higher in the center and I was afraid that the sauce would roll off the side and make a mess. Then I remembered that I had seen a pre-made pizza crust somewhere that had a bunch of bigger holes in, so I looked around my kitchen to see what I could use. Then I saw my mini silicone oven mitt from Crate and Barrel and decided that it would be perfect. I did this (with the mitt) on the partially cooked pizza crusts when they came out of the oven. 4. Spread pizza/spaghetti sauce over the base of the crust. 5. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the sauce. Here is where I blew it and had to make a second batch. The first time around, I went ahead and added the faces before I put them in the oven, but you do NOT want to do this. Here's what happened... or this... So...if you don't want to have the faces running off the crust, go ahead and place the pizzas with just the cheese and sauce into the 350° oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Yes, it was because of this that I determined to make a second batch. 6. While the pizzas are baking, slice 1/4" slices from a brick of mozzarella; using a 1 1/2" circle cookie cutter, cut out 2 circles (for eyes) per pizza. Slice thin slices of a green pepper, top to bottom, so you will get some curvy slices to use for the mouth. Cut the more closed up end of the olives off, about 3/8" tall, to use for the pupils of the eyes. For the eyebrows, use a slice of pepperoni and cut in half, to put under the cheese circles. Set aside for after taking the pizzas out of the oven. 7. Once you take the pizzas out of the oven, place the eyebrows, then the mozzarella circles with the olives placed wherever you would like, making the pupils go in different directions to give the pizza faces a little more interesting. Now, don't you think these eyes look a lot better? Boy, it sure does help if you follow great directions! I did the first batch BEFORE the commencement and the second batch after. They were all enjoyed as appetizers. So cute and delicious. This would be a great activity to do with kids...let them make their own pizzas with a choice of toppings and faces! Easy and fun!  

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