lunchables for grownups

One of the best Lunchables© I remember eating as a kid was the boxed known as "Pizza Treatzza", which was a kit to make pepperoni pizza AND a dessert pizza with candies and chocolate frosting! It's a shame they don't sell those anymore. I know Kraft made changes back in the '00s to make their Lunchables© healthier but now they have individual desserts in the brand now, so it's not like they made all their Lunchables© healthier.

But it wasn't enough for me to just recreate the pepperoni pizza I remember eating as a kid- I wanted to make it more "modern"- like something you would see on the Food Network. So instead of pepperoni, I used chorizo, which is a Spanish sausage that's kind of like a pepperoni, except it's much harder to cut up. Which is why I suggest you remove the chorizo from its casing before cutting it up.

Also, instead of tomato sauce, I used a red wine reduction sauce. It doesn't sound as hard as it is- to me anyway. My dad was very confused about the fact that the sauce in the pot had to be reduced three times. Although, looking back on that sauce, it reminded me of soy sauce in both the consistency of the sauce and the saltiness- which is why I dumped the reduction sauce I didn't put on the pizzas down the drain.

I should've used actual wine.

For the dessert pizzas, I made my own chocolate frosting instead of buying the chocolate frosting crap(pardon my language) that you can buy at the supermarket. I'm not a cake decorator and I don't eat frosting out of the can(eww!), so I would only be using the frosting once.

I hate to waste food, which is why all stale breads my dad throws out after buying new ones shall be turned into bread pudding from here on out. Or at least when the New Year comes. Every year my dad buys two pies from the university he works at- one for me and one for him(he usually picks pumpkin pie or apple pie, I choose chocolate cream pie(he's not fond of chocolate). So that's 8-10 days worth of desserts.

In addition, I buy an ice cream cake every year for my birthday(another 8-10 desserts) that 99% of the time I'm the only one eating it(it's my cake after all!). Plus I'm making my own ice cream cake this year too. And who knows if my family is going to fully devour my meatloaf birthday cake on Thanksgiving.

Hence why I made my own frosting. It's the same recipe I used for my Fried Chocolate Pigs' Feet.

Crispy M&Ms© were really popular back in the '90s and it's a good thing they are back. In the video, I mistakenly refer to these M&Ms© as Crunchy M&Ms©(which have never existed). My mistake. Sorry!

Here's what you will need:

For the cooking vessels:

A medium saucepan to make the reduction sauce
A small bowl to make your frosting
A large Tupperware to store your pizza components

For the actual pizzas:

For the red wine reduction sauce:

2 cups of a stock of your choice(I used veal stock but you could use chicken stock or beef stock instead)
1 cup of red cooking wine
Some onion powder
1 tbsp. of tomato paste
Some marjoram(or thyme or oregano)
5 tsp. of butter
Salt and black pepper to taste

For the pizza Lunchables©:

3 sandwich thins that are cut in a circular shape
Red wine reduction sauce to taste
Shredded mozzarella cheese to taste
1 cut up chorizo link that has been removed from its casing

For the chocolate frosting:

1 tbsp. of whipped cream
1/4 cups of baking chips(I used holiday baking chips but you could use chocolate baking chips instead)

For the dessert pizza:

Chocolate frosting to taste(see chocolate frosting recipe above)
4 Crispy M&Ms©

1. Pour the stock into the saucepan. Bring to a boil on the stovetop. Then let it cook until there's only 1/2 a cup left(about 10-15 minutes).
2. Pour reduced stock into a small bowl and set aside.
3. Pour red cooking wine, onion powder, tomato paste, and marjoram into the same saucepan. Bring that to a boil. Then let it cook until there's only 1/3 cup left(about 6-8 minutes).
4. Stir reduced stock in with the reduced wine mixture. Bring to a boil. Then let it cook until there's only 2/3 cup left(about 7-8 minutes).
5. Remove saucepan from stovetop. Add butter, salt, and black pepper to the sauce and stir until the butter melts.

To assemble the chorizo pizzas:

Note: The sandwich thins sold at most supermarkets are much bigger than the pizza crusts Lunchables© sells today, so I suggest you buy a pizza Lunchables© and use one of the pizza crusts as a stencil for cutting the sandwich thins into a smaller circle.

1. Stencil the sandwich thins with the pizza crust(see Note above).
2. Pour sauce on pizza crust. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and chorizo.

For the chocolate frosting:

1. Place whipped cream and baking chips in a small microwavable bowl. Mix the chips into the whipped cream.
2. Microwave the bowl for 30 seconds. After that, mix up the melted baking chips until you get a chocolate frosting.

For the dessert pizzas:

1. Cover stenciled sandwich thin with the frosting. Top with M&Ms©.

Bon appetit!