“Whoo…Whoo,,,ooo. Little pumpkins sitting on a fence.” When my daughter was young she would quote a Halloween poem that she learned in school. Only she would forget most of it so she would just make it up while she played. We would hear her singing it to herself after we put her to bed at night during the month of October in anticipation of Trick or Treat.

Well how about a pumpkin shaped pizza for a Halloween get together. This just isn’t any pizza but a potato pizza perfect for a Halloween brunch. It actually is really good. It is made with mash potatoes, bacon, onion, sweet peppers and cheese with sour cream served on the side. Because you use canned refrigerated pizza crust, it is easy to make.

I used a Wilton cookie pan that I have had for a long time. In fact I have other shapes too. So for those of you that have collected them and are now wondering why you ever bought them, they make great pizza pans for holidays. The recipe called for a pound of bacon but I only used 5 slices and added chopped smoked sausage to it. I used fancy canned red sweet pepper instead of fresh because I have a bunch of cans that I bought marked down this month for a quarter. They are whole canned peppers that you find in the Latino section of your grocery. I cut the jack o’ lantern face out of the pepper with kitchen scissors and chopped the rest. You can use any kind of combo that you like.

Potato Pizza

3 large potatoes, cooked and ready to mash

¼ cup of milk

Salt to taste

1 tube of refrigerated pizza crust

1 pound bacon or any combination of meat you have on hand.

1 large onion chopped

½ cup chopped sweet red pepper or green bell pepper

6 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese

6 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese

Sour cream for serving with the pizza

Peel and cut up potatoes to boil. Boil in salted water for 20 minutes. In the mean time fry bacon cool and crumble. Cook onions and peppers in the same skillet which you fried the bacon in using a little of the drippings until soft. Pre heat oven according to the directions on the pizza crust. Spray pizza pan with vegetable spray and place pizza dough in pan shaping it to fit. Pre bake the crust for 5 minutes while mashing potatoes with milk. Spread mashed potatoes on pizza crust after pre baking. Sprinkle bacon, onion and peppers evenly on pizza. Next sprinkled shredded cheese. Decorate with peppers before baking if using a holiday themed pan. Place in oven and finish baking for another 10 to 15 minutes until crust edges are done. Serve with sour cream.

I found this recipe in a 2000 annual edition of Taste of Home Annual Recipes that I bought used in a thrift store for less then the cost of a current issue of this magazine. I just love this magazine but buying magazines like I used to is no longer in my budget so I look for used cook books when I am shopping. The narrative that went with the recipe explained that this pizza was from a local restaurant some where in small town USA that was a house specialty. The cook that submitted this recipe said she created her version so she could make at home. I have created my version to enjoy for a quick holiday brunch.

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