Hello friends! I have a confession to make. My all time favorite, desert island, last meal go to dish is… Bagel Bites. Yes, you heard me, I love those little frozen monstrosities.

The other night, a craving for those little nuggets of joy was hitting me pretty hard but I had none in the freezer. What I did have was a bag of bagels and the ingredients I needed to make my own (although much larger) version of my favorite food.

Here’s your list of ingredients:

• 1 can of whole, peeled tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• mozzarella
• 2 tablespoons total of olive oil
• bagels
• red pepper flakes (to taste)
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius.

OK! let’s get to making the sauce.

This is the part of the recipe that I really want you to take to heart. This sauce is so tasty and you don’t even need to cook it! The amount of sauce that I made was more than enough for the two bagels I made. The rest got put in a deli container and stored in the freezer for future use.

The one thing you don’t want your sauce to be is too watery or runny. No one wants a soggy pizza! Drop your tomatoes into a strainer over a bowl and gently press them with a spoon to help drain off the excess liquid.

You can save that liquid for later use in a pasta sauce!

Drop you tomatoes in a blender. Next up add your tomato paste, red pepper flake, oregano, garlic powder and salt and pepper. A little drizzle of olive oil is also a good idea, about one tablespoon. Give it a blend until it is nice and smooth!

Next up, let’s assemble our pizza bagels!

Using a spoon, spread a thin layer of sauce on each of your bagels.

Next up, sprinkle some cheese on top. If you are using fresh mozzarella like I did, you’re going to want to stick it in the freezer for about twenty minutes or so. This will firm it up and make it easier to grate!

As you can see from the picture above, you want to leave a little bit of the sauce exposed. The reason for this is because the sauce is raw and this will help the cooking process. Also, the bits of exposed sauce with give you a nice contrast between the taste of the cheese and whatever other toppings you decide to use.

Give one more splash of olive oil to the tops of your bagels and toss them in the oven on the center rack. Cooking times will vary but these should only take about ten to fifteen minutes. I would peek on the after ten minutes and then just keep checking them until the cheese has started to brown and they look done!

I grabbed some basil from our garden and sliced it up to add some freshness to our grown up bagel bites. These were so delicious and I really do hope you try them soon!