Totino's Pizza Rolls

Totino's pizza rolls are a popular snack for children. These treats consist of a "crust" pocket and are filled with cheese (both real and imitation), sauce, and bits of either pepperoni, sausage, supreme, or 3 cheese. When cooked in a microwave pizza rolls can be ready in minutes. Although pizza rolls are convenient and well loved by kids they are not all that good for you.

The Totino's company often gets criticized for making food products which contain high amount of trans fat, such as pizza rolls. This past November the company was hit by an E. coli scare and needed to recall millions of boxes of frozen pepperoni pizzas. I have tried pizza rolls a few times before and think they are ok, however after looking at the nutritional information and reading about the E. coli recall I do not think I will be eating them again anytime soon.

Side note about the founder of Totino's: Rose Totino

Using her car as collateral, Totino secured a $1,500 loan to launch a pizza take-out restaurant in Minnesota. Since pizza was so new, Totino also had to bring samples of her product to the loan committee to secure the initial financing. After the success of her take-out business, Totino launched a frozen pizza business in 1962 just as frozen foods were gaining national prominence. Totino's business grew rapidly, and she sold it to Pillsbury in 1975 for $22 million. Totino was named the first female vice president at Pillsbury, and she was the first woman inducted in the Frozen Food Hall of Fame. http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/898/

The Oldest Known Pizzeria's

Antica Pizzeria is the oldest known pizzeria in the world. If you are ever in Port’Alba in Naples, Italy you should definitely stop in for food. In 1738 this restaurant was originally established as a snack stall for merchants and 100 years later it become and still remains a pizzeria.

Another original pizzeria is Pizzeria Brandi which was opened in 1780 by Pietro Coliccio, aka Pietro il pizzaiuolo (Peter the Pizza maker). Later this pizzeria was bought by Maria Brandi and her husband Raffaele Esposito. It is here where Raffaele made Queen Margherita the famous margherita pizza in honor of the Italian flag: red tomatoes, green basil, and white mozzarella cheese.

http://www.pizzadelivery.com/funstuff/histPizzerias.aspx

History of Pizza

Pizza” – Definition: A baked pie of Italian origin consisting of a shallow bread-like crust covered with seasoned tomato sauce, cheese, and often other toppings, such as sausage or olives. The root word in Latin is “Picea” which describes the blackening of crust by fire.

Pizza can be traced back to about 1000 B.C. when the Etruscans first arrived into the northern part of Italy from Asia Minor. Pizza was originally known as “focaccia” and did not have tomatoes because they were thought to be poisonous. “Focaccia” was eaten by many people around the Mediterranean rim, such as Greeks, Egyptians etc. because flour, herbs, olive oil, cheese, and lard were readily available.

At first pizza was considered to be a peasant dish until the16th century when the Queen of Naples convinced her husband to let it be made in the royal oven. Since then its popularity has grown tremendously.

The first known pizzeria was Antica Pizzeria at Port’Alba in Naples, Italy which opened in 1738 and is still open for business today.

In 1889, King Umberto and Queen Margherita had the privilege of getting the first known pizza delivered by Raffaele Esposito, the most famous Pizzaaiolo (pizza chef) in Naples, Italy. In honor of the Queen, Raffaele made the pizza into the colors of the Italian flag: red tomatoes, green basil, and white mozzarella cheese. This later would become the basis for our American Neapolitan pizza.

The 1st pizzeria in the U.S. was opened by Gennaro Lombardi in 1895, and it was located at 53 1/2 Spring St., New York City. Pizza was brought by the Italian immigrants but didn’t become popular until the American GI’s got the taste for it while in Italy.

The first frozen pizza was invented by non other than Rose Totino, of Totinos pizza.

Even though pizza has been the rage since the early 1900s, pizza recipes didn’t make their debut into recipe books until the 1950s.

I retrieved this info from http://www.pizzadelivery.com/funstuff/history.aspx

Poll

What is your favorite pizza topping?
pepperoni
sausage
bacon
extra cheese
mushrooms
peppers
onions
buffalo chicken
anchovies
other


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Dunkin Donuts

I was at the Dunkin Donuts in east the other day trying to get an iced coffee when the lady asked if I would like a pizza with that. I was utterly confused by this question and wasn't aware that this was even an option at Dunkin Donuts. Clearly I picked up one of the brochures advertising the new special. Each pizza comes in a 5 inch serving and is "toasted to perfection". Customers even have a choice of what topping to get on their pizza. The available varieties are: Supreme (Italian sauage, pepperoni, green & red peppers), Pepperoni, and Cheese. I don't know how I feel about Dunkin Donuts serving pizza. Has anyone tried it?

St. Louis Style Pizza

The pizza in St. Louis, Missouri is very unique and unlike pizza found anywhere else. The crust is extremely thin due to the fact that it no yeast is used. This makes it very cracker like and hard to fold. Instead of using the typical mozzarella cheese as the majority of pizza places do, St. Louis pizza is topped with Provel process cheese. In order to create this unique cheese provolone, swiss, and white cheddar cheese must be fused together.
I was in St. Louis last week and was able to try this interesting pizza. Although the description sounds a bit crazy it was actually very delicious! It was definitely different than any pizza I've ever tried before. I felt as though it was less filling than other pizza which was awesome because I was able to eat even more yummy food.

Gummi Pizza

For those of you who do not like pizza or want to expand your pizza horizons, gummi pizza might be for you. I had never heard of this form of pizza until a box of them showed up on the checkout counter at my work. Each box comes with five delicious slices and for the mere cost of .25 cents it could be yours! All boxes come with various toppings, so far I have been able to detect pepperoni, anchovies, and sausage. I am not a fan of gummi candy but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that these gummi pizza's taste nothing like the real thing, call me crazy. I can say that kids love this fun snack and they sell out very quickly. These candies are made by the e.frutti company, and in case you were wondering they also make gummi burgers, hot dogs, and sea creatures.