I will be the first to admit I LOVE pizza and EVERY healthy lifestyle should include it. 🙂 After all, it has several food groups that we all NEED in our day ~ protein, carbs, dairy, vegetables, the list goes on. Bubble Up Pizza Casserole is a recipe I came across several years ago when I first started Weight Watchers. I LOVE it because it’s easy, loaded with flavor and you can mix up your ingredients to get a different result every time.
I used what I had on hand this time, however, I have in the past, used ground turkey for the meats, ham/pineapple plus vegetables and fire roasted diced tomatoes for the spaghetti sauce. The possibilities are endless.
If you make one thing this week, make this ~ just pulling it up from the archives makes me want to make it on our trip LOL.
I honestly have not made this in a LONG time because the main brand that makes these biscuits has Trans Fats (AKA Hydrogenated Oils). I was SO EXCITED when I saw that Trader Joe’s is carries a brand that is all natural and has a decent ingredient list.
Thanks’ TJ’s ~ you come through once again ~ I LOVE YOU!!!!
I used several of my favorite Trader Joe’s products, however, feel free to substitute with what you have on hand or with your favorite items from any store.
BUBBLE UP PIZZA CASSEROLE (print it!)
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 Trader Joe’s Sweet Italian Chicken Sausages, casings removed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 red & 1/2 bell peppers, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
- 17 slices turkey pepperoni, chopped
- 2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 20 oz Trader Joe’s Arrabiata Spaghetti Sauce or your favorite pasta sauce
- 16 oz Trader Joe’s Buttermilk Biscuits
- 1 1/2 cups part-skim finely shredded mozzarella cheese
- 4 Tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Preheat over to 375 and spray a 9×13 dish with nonstick cooking
spray. Coat a large frying pan with nonstick spray and place over medium heat. Add sausage and brown.
2. While the sausage cooks, chop all vegetables and turkey pepperoni. Add turkey pepperoni for 1 minute to sausage and remove/set sausage aside.
3. Return vegetables to pan and cook until soft, approximately 5-7 minutes. Add spices, spaghetti sauce and mix well. Remove from heat.
4.. Pull each biscuit apart into little pieces. Arrange half of the biscuit pieces evenly over the bottom of a 9×13 pan. (Be sure that the biscuits aren’t to thick, or they won’t cook through.)
5.. Spread half of the sauce mixture over the biscuits. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Repeat layers.
6. Bake for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into squares and ENJOY!
*Make it VEGETARIAN By using Trader Joe’s Chicken-less Italian Sausage & Smart Deli Soy Pepperoni
Makes 8 servings, 10 points+ each
Nutritional information based on 1/8th of the casserole calculated using caloriecount.com (10 WW points+)
STEP-BY-STEP:
1. Brown your sausage.
2. Add pepperoni for last minute.
3. Remove the meat and set aside.
4. Add your veggies and cook until soft.
5. Add your spices and return meats to pan.
6. Stir in your spaghetti sauce and remove from heat.
7. Layer up your casserole, starting by tearing half (4) your biscuits and spreading them over your 9×13 dish. They remind me of little Gnocchi balls 🙂
8. Add half your sauce.
9. Top with half the cheese and repeat.
Going into the oven!
Let cool for 5 minutes after removing from oven before slicing.
Cut into 8 pieces and ENJOY every bite!
I honestly think that the leftovers the next day are even better! Go ahead and mix up your next pizza night!
We pretty much spent the entire night and today making our way to Hilton Head by tonight. LONGEST TRIP EVER LOL…..I have a feeling tomorrow might be a jet lag recovery day but I will be sure to get out and explore our resort and share some pictures with you all tomorrow night.
Night all!
this looks so good! the boyfriend will definitely appreciate such a pizza-y meal. tahnks for teh great idea.
That is some deliciousness right there! We’re having homemade pizza tonight. So true that pizza should always be incorporated in a lifestyle. 😀
oh funky fun! I love it…yet another recipe to copy!
this is drool worthy!! love the recipe.
oh~ ive brought that sauce home from TJs once and loved it!! great recipe. i am passing this one along to my sister who lives in cali! happy weekend 🙂
I knew I came to the wrong place when I’m starving!!! LOL! Amazing, as always!
*running to the kitchen* Have a great weekend!
Wow what a great idea of pizza!
That looks amazing. Anything pizza and I’m all over it.
omg i’ve been wanting rolls like that forever but haven’t because of the PHO…love TJ’s! such saviors!
and love the recipe! I wonder how i could tweek it since i don’t have those rolls…polenta maybe?
This looks absolutely amazing! I frequent TJ’s a few times a wk and had no clue they carried their own line of biscuits. I will definitely be trying this in the near future!
Oh my this looks crazy good! I will have to make it when I come back next week from my business trip. Yahoo!
MMMM I love me some bubbble up pizza casserole! As a fellow WWer I’ve made it many times! But since starting core (SFT) about 1 year ago, I haven’t made it. I really need to go back to points counting for a week or two to go back to some of my old fav recipes 🙂 Thanks for sharing about the biscuits. I haven’t seen those at TJs
HI Melissa,
YUM to the polenta idea! I was thinking about it and maybe you could try Whole Foods for the rolls or maybe use pizza down or make your own? Just a thought. It’s so easy and delish even the vegetarian versions. I cannot wait to see how creative you get with your verision.
Danica
Danica, my biggest issue with counting points now – is that I’m not used to it and I’m afraid my banana oatmeal, and other food choices would put me over the points that I’d normally be able to eat! LOL. Well I’m around goal so I am sure I could up my points allowance and just count points every once in a while. It used to be – that if you were in maintenance you could switch from core to points day to day. I could do that too. I don’t have to follow all the new WW rules 🙂
Hi Alison,
I completely understand what you are saying – do you know that was why I had originally switched from points to CORE during my Weight Loss Journey? I think you’d be surprised though at how low your points are eating CORE foods since most are low in nutritional density. I agree though as you get closer to your goal, you get less points. I do know in maintenance mode you get ALOT more points, so maybe that could work out for you.
I figure if you have found something that works for you and you are happy, why switch it ~ afterall, there isn’t one perfect program or set of rules that works for everyone.
Good luck with whatever you decide – I know you will do awesome either way 🙂
Danica
Hi Danica: I’ll be making this dish this weekend as a dry run for Superbowl Sunday. I wanted to find out if TJ’s sold the turkey pepperoni? I don’t recall seeing any there but figured if anyone would know…you would. Thanks, Dottie
Hi Danica: I made the Bubble Up Pizza Casserole over the weekend and it was delicious! My DP and his daughter loved it and she is very picky…I kept wanting the biscuts to brown (they didn’t) but got over it… I ommitted red/green peppers and used mushrooms, pimentos and black olives instead. This was a superbowl trial run, so I’ll be making it again this Saturday for the big game! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Dottie,
Wow, your version sounds delish too! I am so glad it turned out for you and you all enjoyed it! Maybe the biscuits on the bottom would brown if you used less sauce? I kinda liked th doughiness of them – like gnocchi though 😀
Thanks for the feedback,
Danica
Total. Yumage. 🙂
Hi Danica:
I will make this recipe for my family this week. Last week I made the “Grilled Pizza with Chicken Sausage, Onons and Sweet Peppers.” from WW Best Eats recipe cook book.
We love pizza and I feel much better feeding them a much tastier and healthier version of it.
Thanks 🙂
Can’t wait to hear about your trip! This looks great.. I love pizza inspired anything!
it DOES look yummy, but the sodium count…YIKES!
WW ignores it now, but I predict that they soon will take a huge interest in salt
in their points count.
HI Bobbi,
This dish definitely uses higher in sodium items like the premade biscuits, pasta sauce and turkey pepperoni. You could easily save on sodium by using diced tomatoes vs pasta sauce, eliminating the meats (turkey pepperoni). You could also attempt making your own biscuits and that would reduce the sodium even more.
Danica
This dish looks yummy! I may have to put it on the list of meals this week 🙂
This was soooooo good, but I put to much red pepper for my 12 yr. old.
will make less spicey next time, great quick casserol
So I decided to make this yesterday since the next few days are going to be hectic for me. I wanted to have “dinner” ready when I got home. However I did “sample” this. OMG..it’s DELISH!!! I ended up putting the pepperoni on top of each layer to have it look like a pizza. Even my fiance thought it looked amazing. Thanks Danica for the recipe!