My New Favorite Lunch~ Homemade Philly Cheesesteak Hot Pockets

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Happy Fall Y’all! I can’t believe summer is already over; it seems like just yesterday I couldn’t wait for the snow to stop falling and for it to be sunny and warm. I’m actually really looking forward to fall this year. My boys are older so there is more we can go out and do and I’m (finally) learning how to use our DSLR that we got 3 years ago; so I might actually be able to go out and take some fun fall photos. Also, with the weather cooling down that means I get to bake more! Not that I couldn’t in the summer, it’s just that when it’s 100 degrees outside the thought of turning the oven on baking wasn’t really my first choice of activities when the boys went down for naps.

As some of you may know, I am working on getting all processed foods out of my families diet. Not only is it healthier, but it’s also less expensive too. I’m quickly learning it’s a lot of work making everything from scratch, but I’m happy I’m doing it and honestly I can already tell a difference in how I feel. It wasn’t really the breakfasts and dinners I was too worried about switching, since 99% of the time those are all made from scratch. It was the lunches and snacks that were (and are still) the tough ones to switch from. How much easier is it to just throw something in the microwave for a minute and eat it vs. preparing everything, baking it, waiting for it to cool, etc.

I am learning though that is a whole lot easier if I take a day or two, or wake up early one morning, and make big batches of whatever I am cooking ahead of time. That way we can just pop it in the microwave to warm up. One of our favorite lunches (or snacks) are Hot Pockets. They have a ton of different flavors and they are a nice, quick meal. One thing I don’t really like is the price tag. IF I can find a sale, I can get a box of 2 for $2. That will feed my husband for one lunch (and I will probably still have to make him a snack shortly after). Plus if you look at the ingredients there is a bunch of stuff in there I can’t even pronounce. Which means it probably isn’t the healthiest food for us either. Jeremy is a big Philly Cheesesteak fan and he really likes the Philly Hot Pockets so I decided I’d tackle these first.

They were a little time consuming to make at first because I was trying to figure out what would be the best ingredients and what I could add to give it that true Philly Cheesesteak taste. But the second and third batches only took about 30 minutes to make from start to finish and tasted so good! They are really easy to make and even easier to re-heat afterwards. This recipe makes 8 Hot Pockets and costs less than $2 to make. These are really filling too! The 8 was enough for all 4 of us to have two lunches! So basically it’s like getting 16 for the same price I was paying for 2. I hope you like them as much as we do!

Ingredients:

1 pizza dough

1 cup Land O’ Frost Premium Roast Beef, sliced into small strips (You can use any Roast Beef. I like Land O’ Frost because it is reasonably priced and it’s nice and thick)

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced

2 Tbsp mushrooms, diced

1 tsp canola oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp flour

1/2 cup milk

1 cup shredded provolone cheese

4 slices swiss cheese

1 egg yolk

garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°

In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat and saute bell peppers and onions until soft (about 3-5 minutes)

Add roast beef, garlic, Worcestershire and soy sauces and heat over low heat for 5 minutes.

In a small pot heat flour over medium heat and slowly stir in milk.

Whisk milk and flour until completely combined. When mixture starts bubbling (after about 2 minutes) remove from heat and stir in provolone cheese.

To make Hot Pockets roll out dough in to a rectangle that’s about 1/4″ thick.

Cut into rectangular pieces.

On one of the short sides of each piece layer the roast beef/veggie mix, then 1/2 a slice of swiss cheese and then runny cheese mix.

Repeat for all 8 pieces.

Fold over the other short end and seal all edges. (I just made sure they were tight by squeezing the sides together with my fingers)

Place on a greased cookie sheet and brush with egg yolk.

Sprinkle garlic powder on top and bake for 15 minutes.

Let cool before eating.

You  can store these in the fridge or freezer depending on how quickly they will get eaten. I would say if you don’t think they will all get eaten within 3-5 days freeze them.

To re-heat- place on microwave safe plate and heat for 30-45 seconds.