Pizza Rolls — The Recipe That Shows Up Because Tomorrow Is Coming Whether You’re Ready or Not

The Relief Society sisters brought a meal to a young mother in the ward this week, and I contributed the funeral potatoes, because of course I did. The week was a spring week, the kind where the light through the kitchen window arrives at a particular angle and the freezer hums in a different register depending on the temperature in the garage. I made notes in my prep notebook on Sunday afternoon, the way I always do: meal name, ingredient list, cost per serving, prep time, freezer instructions. Twenty-eight bags. Two hours and eleven minutes. A little slow this week, by my standards, but Brandon was helping and the conversation was good, and I have learned, slowly and against my own grain, that the conversation is sometimes the point and the time is sometimes a courtesy I extend to my husband for being willing to chop onions on a Sunday afternoon.

The recipe of the week was Denise's dinner rolls, which I have made some specific number of times in my life and have refined to a system that I now hand to other people in printed form. The version I made this week fed eight, cost under fifteen dollars, and required twenty-six minutes of active prep, which is within my requirements and not a coincidence. The vacuum sealer is the most important small appliance in this house and I will die on this hill. I have stopped explaining the freezer-meal philosophy to people who already follow my work, and I have stopped apologizing for it to people who do not. The philosophy is simple: tomorrow is coming whether you are ready or not. You can either be ready or not. I pick ready.

The children are doing what they do, which is the central report of every week of my adult life. Ethan is 20, in Manila on his mission, and his last email mentioned a chicken adobo so good he is going to make me make it when he comes home. Olivia is 19, at BYU studying elementary education — the path she chose at age seven and has not deviated from once. Mason is 16, finishing high school, with calluses on his hands and a plan that does not yet have words. Lily is 14, in high school, asking the kind of questions in Sunday School that make the teachers uncomfortable, which I find difficult and also, secretly, admirable. Noah is 11, the comedian, the performer — the kid who does an impression of my disappointed face in front of company, and gets away with it. That is the family report. I do not have a system for these reports. I just listen and remember and call back when I said I would call back, which is most of the time and not all of the time, and the difference between most and all is the territory of motherhood.

Grace would have been 9. I do not let myself imagine the alternate version. I keep her in the facts. I do not write about her every week. I do not avoid her either. She is in the kitchen the way the kitchen is in the kitchen — woven into the structure, not announcing herself, present. The photograph above the stove is the only one of her smiling, and it has watched me batch-prep more freezer meals than I can count, and I have stopped feeling strange about the parasocial relationship I have with a four-month-old who has been gone for years. She is my daughter. The photograph is what I have. I look. I keep cooking.

Brandon is asleep on the couch. The dishwasher is running. The kitchen is clean. That is what counts as victory in a long marriage.

The dinner rolls were already handled — Denise’s version, printed and distributed, a system in place — but the week also called for something the kids could grab without ceremony, something that travels well in a freezer bag and asks nothing of you on a Tuesday night when nobody has anything left. Pizza rolls are that thing in this house. They go into the sealer right alongside everything else, they come out exactly as promised, and Noah does not do an impression of my face when I make them, which is its own kind of endorsement.

Pizza Rolls

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 package (13.8 oz) refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce, plus more for dipping
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup mini pepperoni slices
• 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper (optional)
• 1/4 cup diced black olives (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
2. Roll out dough. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the pizza dough and stretch or roll it into a roughly 12x16-inch rectangle.
3. Add toppings. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over the sauce, then distribute pepperoni and any optional toppings.
4. Roll and slice. Starting from one long edge, roll the dough tightly into a log. Use a sharp knife or unflavored dental floss to cut the log into 16 equal rounds, approximately 1 inch thick each.
5. Arrange and season. Place rolls cut-side up on the prepared baking sheet or in the baking dish, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Brush the tops lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake. Bake for 13–15 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Rotate the pan once halfway through baking for even browning.
7. Cool and serve. Let rolls cool for 3–5 minutes before serving. Serve warm with additional pizza sauce for dipping.
8. Freezer instructions. To freeze, allow rolls to cool completely, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until solid, about 1 hour. Transfer to vacuum-seal bags or zip-lock freezer bags and store up to 3 months. Reheat from frozen at 375°F for 10–12 minutes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 480mg