DiGiorno Archives - Baked Chicago

What Makes a Fanboy’s Saturday Night Extra Fun? A Sci-Fi Marathon + Pizza!

#DIGIORNO #YouBeTheJudge #CleverGirls #ad DiGiorno pizzeria thin supreme speciale pizza

Every Saturday night in early summer, you’ll find my TV set ready to record my latest science fiction obsession: Season 3 of Orphan Black on the BBC America channel. Typically, I record it so I can watch it whenever I want. But before the season premier of season three, I had to watch the entire second season in a Saturday night marathon filled with clones, intrigue and DIGIORNO®’s new pizzeria! thin supreme speciale pizza.

DIGIORNO has four new pizzeria! thin pizzas: primo pepperoni, spinach & mushroom, margherita and supreme speciale. The supreme speciale is topped with Italian sausage, premium pepperoni, red and green pepper strips, and caramelized onions. The sauce is made from vine-ripened tomatoes, basil, thyme and oregano — and it’s topped with real mozzarella cheese.

I ADORE THIN CRUST PIZZA. And I’ve been a fan of DIGIORNO’s Rising Crust Pizza. But I’m extremely picky when it comes to thin crust pizza. You want the crust to be crunchy without being dry or easily burned.

So what makes DIGIORNO’s new pizzeria! thin crust different? It’s drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and it’s proofed for almost 90 minutes before being baked in a 700° oven. Wow! When you open the freshness wrap you can see the quality of ingredients.

This new thin crust delivers on the promise of a crispy outside and a soft & airy inside. Because of the herbs and olive oil, it reminded me of a great Italian focaccia bread fresh out of a hearth oven. For the culinary-challenged, it’s easy to get these results by following simple baking directions.

Preheat your oven to 375° F. It’s important to keep the pizza frozen until it’s ready to go into the oven. After the oven is done preheating, remove the pizza from the freshness wrap.

Place it directly on the center oven rack. I took a wire baking rack, which I lightly sprayed with olive oil non-stick spray, and placed the pizza on that to make removing it from the oven easier.

After about 18 minutes, the pizza should be ready. You’ll know it’s done when the cheese is melted and the edges are a golden brown. Let is stand for a few minutes before slicing and eating.

As you slice the pizza, you can hear how crunchy the crust has turned out.

I really like the square shape, which makes it easier to slice into uniform pieces. And there’s plenty of slices to share with the guys. Add in a side salad, or some humus with chips, and you’re ready for a marathon viewing session of mind-blowing science fiction.

So far I have tried three of DIGIORNO’s new pizzeria! thin flavors: margherita, supreme speciale and primo pepperoni. The margherita reminded me of the margherita pizza I had in Naples, Italy, on a family trip a few years back. You could tell the mozzarella couldn’t have been any better unless you made it fresh yourself. But I think my favorite is the primo pepperoni because the pepperoni is so darned good.

If you’re a true fan (or fanboy!) of thin crust pizza, then you should try DIGIORNO’s new pizzeria! thin pizza. And DIGIORNO is so confident that you’ll agree this new pizzeria! thin is delicious that it offers a “Love It or It’s Free Guarantee” refund. If for some reason you don’t like it, you can visit DIGIORNO.com for information on how to get a refund.

Now I’ve told you what I think of DIGIORNO pizzeria! thin. DIGIORNO would love to hear from other fanboys and fangirls about what you think of the new pizzeria! thin pizzas. Taste one for yourself and visit DIGIORNO on Facebook or Twitter to share your feedback and photos. Be sure to use the hashtag #YouBeTheJudge.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Events & Entertaining

Make Game Time Your Time: Be the MVP (most valuable party) host!

Goodies take the gridiron at your sports viewing party.

Much like a quarterback leading a team to victory, being a host of a successful Game Day party will come down to preparation and teamwork. Now that we know Seattle and Denver will be playing in the Big Game, it’s time to start planning for your football viewing party. With the right preparation, you’ll easily be the MVP (most valuable party) host and – most importantly – you’ll be able to relax and enjoy game time with your guests.

Game Time Strategy

First, you’ll need a game plan for your party. You don’t want to worry about breaking glasses, doing dishes or being stuck in the kitchen when it’s time for the kickoff. Keep your party supplies basic, including:

a tablecloth (or astro turf) that will serve as the gridiron for your #GameTimeGoodies
disposable paper cups that can double as snack holders
napkins (or paper towels) for any fumbles your guests may make
paper plates and/or bowls for larger food items

Your menu also needs a game plan. You want food that will please the crowd, but easy for you to prepare and serve. And you don’t want to spend a fortune. Here are some considerations as you map out your football food strategy:

if kids will be attending, smaller portions will reduce waste
a crock pot will be your guard on the gridiron, letting you prepare food in advance and keeping it warm until the game ends
create a beverage station (or a beverage stadium!) with ice, cups and supplies so guests can serve themselves
pre-pour some snacks into small cups to make it easy for guests to start nibbling in the stands
decide if you want to serve the entree or main foods at kickoff or the half-time show [I recommend serving snacks immediately when guests arrive, and your entree(s) at kickoff. Then at the start of half-time, it’s easy to break out dessert.]

I found all of my Game Day party food supplies at my local Walmart, including:

DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza (Supreme, 4 Cheese, 3 Meat, and Pepperoni) — on Rollback for $4.50
Stouffers Party Size Lasagna with Meat & Sauce
Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza with Garlic Buttery Seasoned Crust (12-value pack)
Hot Pockets Ham & Cheese with Croissant Crust (12-value pack)
Edy’s Limited Edition Touchdown Sundae Ice Cream
Nestle Crunch Dipped DRUMSTICK Cones (my DRUMSTICK kryptonite is the vanilla filled with caramel!)

Cooking for your guests is fun. But not if you’re stuck in the kitchen during the Big Game. So I suggest making a hot dip that can work with many snacks, like potato chips, pretzel rods or sticks, tortilla chips or even veggie sticks. I found a (new to me) flavor of Hot Pockets with a pretzel crust at Walmart that I was dying to try. I cooked them per instructions on the box. Then I cut them into 8 dipping strips to use with my hot queso blanco dip. Together they were a football fiesta of flavor in my mouth.

Here’s how to make the queso blanco dip. You’ll need:

16 ounces queso blanco (white American cheese), cubed
4 ounces salsa (choose your favorite spice level)
4 ounces beer

Combine the ingredients in a small crock pot on low heat. Cook for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

To keep dishes to a minimum, I recommend using disposable paper cups to ladle the queso blanco dip into. Then let guests take their favorite dippers and put inside the cup. It makes for a very portable and mess-less snack.

Fun should be the underlying theme for any party. But with a large crowd, you want to keep food prep to a minimum. An easy “upgrade” that can be a conversation piece is making a pepperoni football on top of your DiGiorno pizza before popping it in the oven. You can see from the images below that I took a 4-cheese pizza and layered 20 pepperoni in the center and topped it with thin strands of mozzarella string cheese. Then bake according to package directions.

And about 20 minutes later you have hot, bubbling and deliciously gooey pizza for the entire team!

Hot Pockets make a popular and easy entree alternative. I found some printable hot food holders on the Internet that I printed out and taped together. It acts like a safety for the Hot Pocket by deflecting any fumbles.

I suggest keeping dessert simple. At the start of half time, break out the Nestle Crunch Dipped DRUMSTICK Cones and Edy’s Touchdown Sundae Ice Cream. It’ll only take 5 minutes to set up, which means you’ll be back on the sofa before the start of the half-time show. Yeah!

Put the DRUMSTICKs, tops down, on top of some ice in a medium-sized bowl. That will keep them cold until your guests grab them. But we both know they’ll be long gone by the time the ice has even begun to melt!

And setting up an Edy’s ice cream station is simple, too. Scoop the ice cream into small bowls, ramekins or coffee cups. Let your guests top with hot fudge or sprinkles, as they wish. They grab a spoon and go! You could even use the disposable paper cups to reduce the dishes to wash after the game.

How Do You Avoid The Quarterback Scramble?

A great party takes teamwork. Share your favorite Game Day party planning tips, favorite #GameTimeGoodies or which team you’ll be rooting for during the Big Game below.