Steven Helmer Publications

  My wife and I decided on frozen pizza for dinner last night and, while at the store, I decided to give Motor City Pizza Co. Supreme Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pizza a try. I've seen this product before but was turned off by the $11.99 price. However, since none of the other pizzas happened to be on sale, it wasn't much more expensive than the alternatives. As it turns out, it is now one of our favorites. There were a couple things that really stood out about this frozen pizza brand. The main one was the crust. It was thick and, thanks to the pan you bake it in, came out crispy without being too hard, just the way my wife and I like pizza. I was also surprised by the number of toppings on the pizza. A lot of other brands tend to skimp on those, but this one had a decent quantity. It both added flavor to the pizza (along with the well-seasoned sauce) and made it filling. We even have leftovers, something that is rare with frozen brands. Final Opinion: It's not a brand I'm...

  I spotted Lucia's Morning Melts Breakfast Pizzas a few weeks ago but decided not to get them because I thought they were a bit too expensive. However, I saw they were on sale yesterday and picked up a couple to give them a try, including the Americano Breakfast Pizza I made this morning. Unfortunately, even on sale for $4.99 each, I don't think they were worth the money. One thing I did like about this product was the ability to make it in the microwave rather than needing to dig out my pizza oven or preheat my kitchen oven. And, unlike some other microwaveable pizzas, this one did come out of the microwave with a crunchy crust. The biggest complaint I had (and my wife shared this) was all I could taste was the crust. The toppings were a bit lacking, and I didn't think it had a whole lot of flavor.  At best, even at my most generous, I couldn't say this was any better than any other frozen breakfast pizza I've purchased. In fact, there were two brands in the same ...

We spent Christmas with family and after driving home for three hours in a thick fog yesterday, I ended up keeping dinner simple and just picked up a couple frozen pizzas when I went to the store to get cat food. After reviewing a couple choices, I decided to give Lippers Deluxe Pizza a try, both because it was on sale for $5.99 each and because it was made in Wisconsin. I didn't regret the decision. I won't say it is the best frozen pizza I've ever purchased but for a lower-priced brand, it turned out to be pretty good. There were a reasonable number of toppings and plenty of cheese. While I'm not normally a thin crust fan, I did like how the crust on this pizza came out crispy without being hard to the point I was afraid of breaking my teeth. The sauce on this pizza was also decent as well. It had plenty of seasoning and, just as important, there was the right quantity. The pizza wasn't dry, but it also wasn't overflowing with it (something that can make pizza...

  My doctor put me on the DASH diet last week which in itself isn't a horrible thing, but I've had a heck of a time finding low-sodium alternatives to my favorite foods (something that is more than a little surprising considering there is a very large senior citizen population in this town). One of those foods is pizza. I thought if I made the pizza myself, it would make it easier to keep the sodium levels lower. That, at first, didn't seem to be the case and I was about to figure out something else for dinner when I came across this product in a special display. Every other canned pizza sauce I looked at had around 200 mg of sodium per serving. Casa Visco had just 25 mg. It was a significant enough difference for me to make the pizza and still keep my overall sodium within acceptable levels. In fact, I was even able to add a small amount of turkey sausage as one of the toppings. What was even more impressive was the flavor. I was worried the lack of salt would mean this w...

  I've seen this particular brand of frozen pizzas at a couple different grocery stores but was reluctant to try it because the $7.99 price seemed a little too high for a frozen brand (I can buy plenty of others for a couple dollars less). However, I had a coupon for one and decided to try it at the discounted price yesterday evening. Overall, I have to say I was impressed. A couple things really stood out for me when it came to this brand. One of the main ones was the generous number of toppings on the pizza . There was a lot more meat on this pizza than I would normally expect from a frozen brand, but it also had a lot of cheese as well. This made the pizza very filling. I also liked the crust on this pizza. It wasn't overly thick, but I also wouldn't refer to this as a thin-crust pizza either. Basically, it was thin enough to get crispy on our pizza oven while being thick enough to keep the toppings from sliding off when we picked up a slice. That's a good combo in ...

My oldest daughter had to take the ACT yesterday and, since she is home schooled, that meant my wife and I making an hour-long drive with her so she could take the test in Oshkosh, WI. She didn't get an opportunity to eat a whole lot before the test and only had a light snack with her so, mostly because it was right next door, we stopped at Pizza @ Hwy 44 for lunch. This was our first time dining at this restaurant (which opened last spring) and, overall, I have to say I was impressed. There were a couple things, in particular, that really stood out for me. One of the main ones was the pizza itself. The three of us each got a personal pizza, which I thought were a reasonable value at $8.95 each. Not only was the pizza delicious, the generous amount of toppings on the pizza made it much more filling than I was expecting it to be.  In fact, I ordered the wound up having it for lunch yesterday, dinner later that evening and had three extra pieces leftover for lunch today. That added ...

My wife and I both had places we needed to be yesterday evening and, since neither of us thought to get dinner started in advance, decided to have frozen pizza . She had seen this particular one when out grocery shopping a few days ago and mentioned it to me. So, when I stopped at the same store yesterday evening, I wound up buying it. Overall, I was happy with the purchase. We wound up making this on our pizza oven when I got home from the store and I found it exceeded my expectations. The stuffed crust probably could have used a little more bacon (it was mostly cheese). But, it still ended up being enjoyable and, at minimum, was good as some of the stuffed crust pizzas we've purchased from local restaurants for much more money. It also proved to be much more filling than I was expecting it to be. Normally, a pizza like this would barely be enough for two of us. But, I was getting full after just two slices and needed to wait a while before having more. And, as far as tast...

Photo by Cynthia Helmer Even though it was pretty darn foggy out yesterday and I probably should have stayed home because of that, we did make a trip down to Sun Prairie so we could do some much-needed shopping at Costco. While there, we did something we usually try to do around Valentine's Day, get a heart-shaped pizza from Rocky Rococo's. This is something we try to do every February (though we have missed a year or two) because, between my mom's birthday being on Valentine's Day and the girls usually having some sort of skating or dance activity Valentine's Day weekend, we really don't get an opportunity to celebrate the actual holiday. This is pretty much the exception to that. And, we've found it has to be a Rocky Rococo's pizza. There are other restaurants (closer by) that offer something similar. But, this is the only one that doesn't seem to skimp on toppings like the others do or serve a pizza that has been carved up to the point...

I wanted to make a trip to Costco this morning but it was pretty foggy out and I decided not to make the drive down to Sun Prairie. But, just so we did get some groceries for the house, my wife and I decided to make a trip across town to Aldi. To tell you the truth, I have been less and less impressed with that store every time I go there, especially since I just can't seem to find as many deals as I used to be able to. However, while there, I came across this pizza in their freezer section for $3.99. It looked decent so I decided to buy it and have it for lunch. Overall, I do have to say I was happy with this purchase. I wasn't a huge fan of the thin crust (I still prefer thicker crust), but the pizza did have some good things going for it. For one, I thought the quantity of toppings was sufficient, something that isn't always the case with low-cost frozen pizzas. I'm also including cheese in that statement. I've had way too many frozen pizzas that seemed to...

Product Description: "All natural" frozen pizza from the Mystic brand with sausage, mushrooms, uncured pepperoni, green peppers, red peppers and onions. I ended up purchasing this pizza yesterday evening while doing some shopping at one of our local grocery stores for $5. I prepared it for dinner that night. You can read my review here:  https://wizzley.com/review-of-mystic-all-natural-house-special-pizza/

My wife was running some errands yesterday afternoon and, since she had to stop by the grocery store anyway, decided to pick up some frozen pizzas for dinner. We had never had this brand before and was interested in something a little different so she brought home the BBQ Recipe Pulled Pork & Bacon variety. To tell you the truth, my wife probably enjoyed this pizza a lot more than I did. While she likes a variety of toppings and sauces on pizza, I am much happier with something a little more basic and, while I won't say I hated the pork and barbecue sauce, it really wasn't my thing. That being said, there were some things I did find I liked about this product. One thing, in particular, I found I did like about this pizza was the deep-dish crust. I've had this with some other frozen pizza brands but, more often than not, haven't been overly impressed with it. This one came out just the way I prefer it, a little crispy without being hard. The pizza also...

My wife and I didn't have solid dinner plans last night so, as is usually the case when that happens, I wound up stopping at the grocery store on my way home and picking up a couple frozen pizzas for dinner. Since my daughters just like cheese pizza, I wound up getting them a cheap brand. But, I was in the mood to try something a little different so, after some consideration, I purchased the Pep's Drafthaus Prohibition Special for my wife and I. At $8.99, this pizza was more expensive than I would normally prefer to spend on a frozen pizza and, because of that, I did have some second thoughts about my purchase. However, cooking this pizza on our pizza oven last night and giving it a try, I do have to say I was very impressed with it. One of the reasons I took a chance on this brand when I saw it in the freezer was it looked like it had quite a few toppings on it. This included a lot of cheese, sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, peppers and onions. Since lack of topping...

Last night was our typical Monday night. My wife was at the dance studio with our youngest daughter until 7:30 and I was at the skating rink with our oldest daughter for part of the evening as well. As a result, we needed to figure out something simple for us to have for dinner and ultimately decided on a frozen pizza. I have a couple cheese pizzas in our freezer already but, since my daughter and I were across the street from the grocery store anyway, I decided to stop there and pick out something with some toppings and ended up buying a Palermo's King Cheese Supreme Pizza. This was actually my first time trying this particular pizza. I've seen it before, but never took the time to purchase it, both because it has a thinner crust and it is normally around $10. However, it happened to be on sale yesterday ($4.99) so I decided to use that as an excuse to try it. As was expected, I was less than thrilled with the thinner crust on this pizza. As is usually the case with t...

My wife and I won't be able to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, both because of work and parental commitments. So, as we were running errands today, we stopped by Rocky Rococo's and got one of their heart-shaped pizzas, as has become tradition for us. After getting back and picking up the kids from my parents' house, my kids expressed some disappointment over not getting some of the pizza too. So, I ended up ordering a couple others from Marco's Pizza here in town and we had that for dinner. Of the pizzas, I think I enjoyed the one from Rocky Rococo's best. The one from Marco's wasn't bad. But, it was thin crust, which I'm not a huge fan of, while the first pizza was much more filling.

One of our local grocery stores had a coupon for Roma frozen pizzas this week (7 for $10) and, knowing there will be days when frozen pizza is the best option for dinner, I decided to take advantage of it. The pizzas filled up our freezer a little too much, however, and, since we needed the space, I decided to make pizza for dinner last night. Mostly because it was the one variety that didn't require me to dig to the bottom of the freezer, I picked out the Canadian Style Bacon pizza. This was my first time having this variety and I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. But, it turned out to be pretty good. Much like other pizzas from this brand, the Canadian Style Bacon variety had a thin crust (a little too thin for me) and was a bit on the small side. This, however, is something that doesn't bother me too much when it's a bargain brand like this one. I was, however, somewhat impressed with the quantity of bacon on the pizza. This wasn't the case ...

My wife and I were both home all day yesterday. But, mostly because we spent a good chunk of the day assembling a birthday gift for our daughter (a bike), neither of us thought to make plans for dinner. As a result, since one daughter had dance class and the other had skating practice , we ended up settling on frozen pizza. We recently visited Costco and actually had some cheese pizzas in our freezer as a result. But, while I knew the kids would be happy with that, I wanted a little more and, since I had to stop by the store for milk anyway, I ended up buying one from the Screamin' Sicillian brand. This is a product I considered buying before. However, the pizzas are usually a little too expensive for my budget. The only reason I decided to give it a try last night was they happened to be on sale. Unfortunately, even at the reduced price, I'm not sure it was worth the $5.99 I spent on it. To be fair, I didn't hate this pizza. I thought it had a good flavor to it ...

Well, I had no complaints about my new 2017 Chevy Cruze until today. When I leased the car, it was with the understanding it had satellite radio. As it turns out, the car doesn't have that capability. To be clear, I don't believe I was intentionally misled. I talked to the dealership's general manager today and it sounds like he and everyone on his staff was under the impression it was a standard feature and were just as surprised as I was. Plus, when I talked to Sirius XM (to cancel) they did confirm it is very rare to see a new car not have that option. Unfortunately, the paperwork is already signed and there is no fix to the problem. The only solution they could offer is purchasing a portable radio (which they offered to reimburse me for) and plugging it in via my USB port. But, I figure, if I'm going to have to do that, I might as well just use the Pandora app on my phone. I did get something else from the dealer. Since I was given the wrong information and th...