Pizza Bagel

Pizza bagels are the ultimate after school snack.  They're easy, ready in minutes, filling and kid-cooking-skills friendly.  Here's how I like to make 'em.

The recipe for pizza bagels is pretty darn simple:

• bagels
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• tomato sauce
• spices (optional)
• pepperoni (optional)

Carefully cut the bagel in half and pop it into the toaster for some light toasting.  This step is key if you don't want the bagel to be all soggy from your sauce when you bake it later on.

Spoon some tomato sauce to your bagel.  I like a lot of sauce, but you should put on however much you like.

After the sauce comes the all important cheese.  Sprinkle grated mozzarella over the top of the sauce. 

You've just combined the holly trinity of ingredients - no, not a mixture of onions, celery and carrots known in french as a mirepoix; but bread, sauce and cheese to form a basic pizza!

Sprinkle on some spices like powdered garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper if you'd like to doctor up your pizza bagel a bit. 

Finally, if you're a pepperoni fan, now's the time to add some slices on the very top.

Set your toaster oven to bake and turn the temperature knob to 400. 

Then, cover the toaster oven baking dish with tinfoil so that the cheese doesn't make a mess inside the toaster oven and throw your pizza bagels on in there.

Cook the pizza bagels until the cheese gets all bubbly and brown in some spots, or, until the pepperoni gets crispy.

As the small child in the Ellios Pizza commercial used to say, "When the cheese goes blub blub blub, it's done." 

Take it out and enjoy the perfect snack!