Baked Pizza Egg Rolls

I woke up this morning wanting to cook.  I love being in my kitchen, making a mess, creating something yummy.  Today I knew I wanted to cook but I couldn't figure out just what it was I wanted to create.  I spent a good deal of time this morning trying to define what I was after.  It never did come to me.  I knew I wanted to "cook" as opposed to "bake" so most of my stand-by's were out.  I contemplated whipping up pot pie soup, but Brian is more of a fan of "Tastes Like Lasagna" (which apparently I have never shared here so be prepared for that post in the very near future).  Then I thought  pizza casserole sounded good, but I wasn't in the mood for pasta (yes I took my temperature to make sure I wasn't running a super high fever causing delusion).

So no pasta, but the pizza idea seemed to stick.  These were supposed to be wonton bites; however I didn't have any wonton wrappers in my house and I was too lazy to cut the egg roll wrappers down to size.  Hey, don't judge my laziness, I at least made something!

Baked Pizza Egg Rolls

• 12 Egg Roll Wrappers
• 1/2 c Mozzarella Cheese*, shredded
• 2 T Pizza Sauce (I used Contadina - yum - but any tomato sauce will do)
• 4 T (heaping) Diced Tomatoes
• 1 T Mushroom, diced
• 1 T Minced Onion
• 1 oz Pepperoni, chopped
• Garlic, to taste
• Italian Seasoning, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Foil line a baking sheet and place a cooling rack on the sheet.  Spray the rack with non-stick spray.
2. Mix all the ingredients, save the wrappers, together.
3. Spoon about one heaping tablespoon onto each wrapper and roll.  (To get the wrappers to stick brush the edges with water or a beaten egg.)
4. place the prepared egg rolls on the rack, be sure to leave space so they are not touching, and spray the tops of the egg rolls lightly with oil.  
5. Bake  in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
6. ENJOY

By placing the rolls on a rack in the pan it allows them to
crisp on both sides without having to worry about flipping.  

Now being me, I garnished the egg rolls with a little fresh grated parmesan cheese (cause who doesn't like parmesan cheese?).  They are actually pretty good.  I always have to stress this when making baked egg rolls - THEY ARE BAKED.  If you are going into this thinking you will get that oily crunch out of your egg roll wrappers then you will be disappointed.  There is a crunch, but it is a different kind of crunch.  That being said, you can definitely deep fry these if you so desire - I just try to avoid high temperature vats of oil!

The egg rolls come in at around 90 calories a piece.  Not that bad in my opinion.  The recipe makes 12, we had them for lunch with some cucumbers (obviously) and avocado (another obvious choice).  I also supplied extra dipping pizza sauce - you never know when the need to dip will strike.  I ended up eating three for lunch.  I probably could have gotten away with just two, but I ate a skimpy breakfast this morning.  So for 270 calories I had three good sized pizza egg rolls and I am feeling plenty full!

This is another one of those recipes, like the muffin bites that you can do pretty much anything with!  Keep them pizza-like yet add different ingredients (i.e. peppers, bacon, zucchini) or completely change them into buffalo chicken egg rolls.  Slap on your chef hat and decide what you feel like that day!

Give them a shot if you are so inclined - and don't forget to let me know your thoughts!

*I am a HUGE fan of FRESH mozzarella.  I know many of you will think I am jumping on some sort of bandwagon (cause I am sure there is a "fresh cheese" bandwagon out there somewhere).  Whatever you think, try it.  I promise you, once you use fresh mozzarella in your recipes you will never go back to those pre-shredded bags hanging in refrigerated section at the grocery store.  I feel so strongly about this that I am currently buying the materials to make my own mozzarella.  That being said - use whatever cheese you like, the egg rolls are for you to eat and therefore should be made with ingredients you prefer.