Spork Notes: Ellio's Pizza

From time to time, I write about a favorite food in a feature I call Spork Notes. Today's topic: Ellio's Pizza.

While some folks' freezer pizza of choice is round, I hew to the rectangular. Within that genre, French bread pizza has regal aspirations. Ellio's aspires to no such heights. Its beauty lies in its simple, solid taste.

An Ellio's box contains three sheets of pizza, each one perforated into three "slices." Apparently some people will only cook one or two slices, but I've always made three. That's probably because when I wanted a "pizza snack," I went with that traditional Italian treat--Bagel Bites.

Besides, snapping off slices before baking takes some doing, seeing as they're frozen. I've stopped that practice because it shakes loose a bit of the cheese, of which there isn't much to spare. That's part of the charm in this age of inch-thick mozzarella.

Ellio's Pizza was the second "dinner" I could make for myself, after hot dogs. Interestingly, both involved the toaster oven. Maybe that's why I'm fiercely loyal to a toaster oven, and can't stand the pop-up kind.

While Ellio's remains pretty low-brow, I've always seen it as customizable. What began with garlic powder and parmesan now looks a bit more deluxe.

Sadly, McCain foods doesn't sell this prince of the pizza aisle here in North Carolina. Perhaps that enhances the allure. It certainly explains why two Ellio's boxes filled my cooler on the return leg of a recent trip to Delaware. (If you work for McCain and are reading this...let's talk).

Since then, Ellio's has ousted Mrs. T's Pierogies, as my standard solo supper. As you can see from the photo, which I've named "Dinner for One," you could do a lot worse.