Now and then Kent and I still talk about how good our school hot lunches were in the small Michigan town we both grew up in, and most kids felt the same. There were at least six lunch ladies working in the kitchen, they started in the morning and still cooked most things from scratch. One of the lunches I loved was called, “pizza on bun”.
The other day it was 5:00 pm and after a day of running all over the place, once again I didn’t know what was for dinner. Yes, I KNOW I should be meal planning, but I still just haven’t gotten back into the groove yet. I pulled it off with these though, and had everything on hand. It’s also a great lunch for a big group if you're having a bunch of your kids' friends over. Friday after the last day of school for the kids (half day for them), there were 12 of us here and between a couple friends and I we whipped these up in just a few minutes, including making the homemade pizza sauce! (Or you can just use a tomato slice as pictured above.)
I’ll be making “pizza on bun” a lot this summer. 🙂
Pizza on Bun
Ingredients
- Hamburger buns-- 1-2 per person. We have a local bakery that makes delicious fermented bread and buns, you could also buy sprouted buns or make some homemade buns.
- Butter-- pastured butter is best.
- Homemade pizza sauce or organic pizza sauce. You could also just pop on a slice of tomato if your kids will go for that.
- Any meats or toppings you’d like--I like to cut up ham from our local farmer, but most of my kids like cheese only. (Find sources for healthy meat here.) I also like green pepper, some may want onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, whatever!
- Top with mozzarella cheese-- I shred a bunch at once with my Bosch and keep baggies full in the freezer.
Instructions
- Slice, butter and lightly toast the buns. I did it under the broiler in the oven – watch it closely! (If you skip this step the sauce will make your buns soggy.)
- Spread a little pizza sauce over the top of each bun or add a slice of tomato.
- Add any meats or toppings.
- Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Pop them back into the oven or under the broiler until the cheese melts and toppings are hot.
Kids and adults love these, they’re easy, and FAST.
I’m curious, did you like hot lunch as a kid?
If so, what was your favorite meal the lunch ladies made? If not, what did you like to bring for cold lunch? I need to start now gathering new ideas for the kids’ cold lunches for fall!
More you might like:
- More ideas for fast food dinners (I love having a huge list of these ideas on hand…)
- Where to find quality brands of coconut oil or other items I recommend.
- Have you seen all these natural remedies to try?
Lorraine Davis says
I have an ideal! that busy call Dominos
Bekah Laurain says
Just googled it. Is it Little Rooster?
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Yep! Love them!
Bekah Laurain says
So where exactly do you get these fermented buns, Kelly??
Commenter via Facebook says
Kelly, I still haven’t planned the while–having everything on hand-thing yet. I don’t make and freeze biscuits or buns anymore. My kids would love it but they eat them too quickly when I make them. It’s hard to ‘reserve’ anything for another meal, etc. So I use my bread for any sandwiches things. . That doesn’t work for the mini pizzas. You’ve inspired me to have a go at this again….
Pippi says
In second grade I went home and told my mom that I wouldn’t eat hot lunch any more because the school was trying to poison us. Looking back I’m impressed with my elementary-school self for being so astute. The food was processed to death at my school. So I wasn’t hot lunch fan 🙂 Instead I brought sardines and crackers and horrified all my friends by eating tiny fish.
KitchenKop says
Wow!!! That is impressive for a 2nd grader, or even for an ADULT for that matter!
Milehimama says
My kids love this with our leftover buns and breads. Makes an excellent second meal if you have leftover garlic bread!
Alex at A Moderate Life says
Oh, this is so becoming a staple in my house! Kel, thanks so much for participating in our Two for Tuesday Recipe Blog Hop and I hope to see you again next week! Keep it REAL! 🙂 alex
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS says
Great idea, Kelly! We are so on a pizza kick lately! I need to figure out a better sauce, though, so I’m going to check yours out. And your buns look wonderful! Thanks for sharing in the Tuesday Twister!
Peggy says
Heh. It’s pizza week! I posted earlier this week about pizza rice! We always had our pizza on english muffins. They were a little sturdier than buns and not quite as doughy.
Kathy at Wellness Roadtrip says
I never ate the school lunches. I was afraid of it all…the canned beans and salisbury steak were just too much for the kid raised by parents who planted and harvested a 1/2 acre organic garden. And the canned peas…which I’d never seen until going to elementary school were only good for one thing in the eyes of all children…pea fights! I do remember those.
My post for your Real Food Wednesday is about school lunches 🙂 with video of my fifth grader! Thanks for the recipes!
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy says
Yup, we do this with English Muffins as well, sometimes bagels. I haven’t for a long time though, thanks for the reminder! I run a daycare, I’ll have to do this with the kids this summer!
Garden says
We do these too, only I use pita rounds! I brush them with olive oil which keeps the sauce from soaking in, and they are fast and delicious!
I’ll have to try these on buns.
Wonderful idea!
KitchenKop says
Tina, thanks for catching that on RFM, I emailed Ann Marie. As long as you click in to view our posts, subscribing to each post specifically doesn’t matter TOO much, except I like seeing my subscriber numbers go up!
Kate, what an awesome Dad you have. That’s so cool. 🙂
WordVixen, I love that lemon pepper idea for a great cold lunch!
I still want to try those English muffins you guys have mentioned.
Kel
WordVixen says
I went to a small private Christian school and we didn’t get hot lunches. My favorite from-home lunch, though, was cold lemon pepper chicken. Mom would cut up some chicken, practically dredge it in garlic and lemon pepper and then fry it in butter. Fantastic cold! Much better than hot, actually…
Mom often made bread pizza too. Not for school lunch, but still. Hubs grew up with English muffin pizza. 🙂
Kate says
Oh, and I forgot. My MIL used to make pizzas out of tortillas. It was one of the few recipes my husband requested I make for him after we were married. Now that I am making sprouted tortillas I bet I could do it again!
Kate says
I did like the hot lunches as a kid and I bought most days in elementary school, and everyday in middle/high school. I especially liked the chicken and gravy meals at the holidays, Mexican pizza, baked potato bars, and other “home cooked” stuff.
In college, though, I brought my lunches everyday. My dad and I would cook up a big batch of something every Sunday and both take it all week. We did pasta tossed with squash and tomato sauce, vegetable soups, fettucine alfredo with homemade meatballs, various other soups. I always took a salad and usually some fruit and tea too. So yummy! I had dishes that were meant to hold veggies and dip but put salad dressing in the “dip” side. Meatloaf traveled well, any sort of cold pasta, etc.
tina says
This is completely of topic, but I am wondering what is going on at the Real Food Media website. There hasn’t been a new post since June 8th. I stop subscribing to all the real food blogs because I’d just go the Real Food Media.
Another question? Is it better that we are subscribers rather than just going to Real Food Media (ie – do you earn more money from advertisers if we subscribe directly to the blogs?)
Thanks
SR says
I make this same thing all the time but with English muffins! So yummy!
girlichef says
Oh yeah, we love little pizza buns, bagels or muffins around here, too! I prefered cold lunch to hot, unless it was pizza day!! (and mine were in a town in Michigan, too 😉 ) Thanks for submitting this to Two for Tuesdays today!
Cindy (FarmgirlCyn) says
Catholic grade school so no hot lunches except for the once a week hot dogs. We got hot dogs for .25 each, a milk for .10 and chips for .10. So for under $1.00 we had a hot lunch! The other days….we walked home for lunch.
We have done mini pizzas here at home using toasted english muffins…so good!
jeanne says
I will be making these today- thanks for the idea! I have a few buns left over from a hugh extend family gathering this past weekend.
Bethany says
That’s funny. We made pizza on sourdough English muffins for lunch today. Sounds like it’s a common meal this week 🙂
Heather says
Mom used to make these sometimes, but with English muffin halves for the bun part.
Jen says
We’re on the same wavelength. 🙂 I just pulled homemade pizza sauce out of the freezer today so that I can make pizza on the sourdough English muffins I made from Wardeh’s site (which are delicious!).
Shawn says
I agree. Making pizza on Sourdough English Muffins is sublime. I make my muffins with sour raw milk, so they have a slightly cheesy taste already, and they are soooo perfect as mini-pizzas! They are even better if you pair regular pizza cheese with some homemade cream cheese on the top.