Food Thursday: White Chicken Pizza

Pizza is my most favorite food. It’s probably the one food I could eat every week, week after week after week. However, pizza in my house is always a challenge because of kid #2. Kid #2 hates pizza because of the red sauce. Some places will make pizza without sauce if you ask (the things I’ve learned because of Miss E) but most often if we order pizza we just figure out something else for her to eat.

So when I saw this recipe in Cooking Light this fall I tore it out. I knew I’d have to give it a shot, and you know what? It worked! She liked it! We had pizza and she liked it! The original recipe is a bit fancier with some fresh herbs and a bit less cheese. And I’m sure that’s delightful but I’m feeding kids here so I changed a few things and it was yummy.

White Chicken Pizza
1 tube of refrigerated pizza dough
1 TB corn meal
2 TB butter
2 tsp minced garlic
2 TB flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup milk
1 cup finely shredded Italian cheese (I used a mix of mozzerella, parmesan & romano)
1/2 a rotisserie chicken shredded, dark & white meat
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 tsp oregano
grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to temperature on the pizza dough container. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle on the corn meal. Spread out your pizza dough.

2. Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds then add flour to make a light roux – stirring constantly for a minute or so until it’s a blonde color. Slowly add the milk stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook for 3 minutes until it’s thick and just starts to bubble. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheese until it melts. Spread all over the dough.

3. Top with chicken and onion then sprinkle the oregano and some parmesan cheese across the top. I sprinkled another handful of the shredded Italian cheese on top too. Bake according to package directions until crust is golden.

Review: I served it with a nice green salad and it was a hit! My son also thought this would be good with some barbecue sauce drizzled on top and I think he’s right.

Food Thursday: Mediterranean Pizza

I was looking for a pizza type of appetizer I could make for a get-together last week. I specifically needed something meatless and had a craving for something Greek. I started digging through my cookbooks and found a recipe by Rachael Ray that just needed a few tweaks to turn into the perfect appetizer! You could probably make a big salad on the side and call this a meal too. Either way, it was delicious.

Mediterranean Pizza
1 tube of refrigerated, thin pizza dough
1 12 oz jar roasted red peppers, drained
1 TB olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp minced garlic (or 2 cloves minced)
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
1 bag of shredded mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Handful of crumbled feta
1 tsp oregano
1-2 roma tomatoes (optional)
1 small jar of sliced black olives (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In your food processor, blend all the red peppers into a paste, add salt & pepper to taste. Unroll your pizza dough on your baking sheet and spread the red pepper paste on top.

3. Saute the onion & garlic in the olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the handful of spinach and saute another 2-3 minutes until it is wilted.

4. Spread the onion, garlic, spinach mixture on top of the pizza. Top with mozzerella and parmesan then sprinkle the crumbled feta on top. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

5. Top with diced tomatoes and/or black olives before serving if desired.