Fruit Pizza

The final dish I made to round out our ACC championship shin-dig was this fruit pizza. I got the idea from the Pioneer Woman, but I've had tons of different kinds of fruit pizzas in my life. I'll reference her in this recipe because, technically, I got the idea that day from her :) These types of recipes are AWESOME because you can totally adjust to what is in season. And, I mean, who doesn't like eating sugar cookies and fruit?? Come on!

Fruit Pizza
as adapted from Pioneer Woman's Deep Dish Fruit Pizza

1 roll of sugar cookie dough
1 14 oz jar of marshmallow fluff
1 8 oz fat free cream cheese
whatever fruit you like! (I used strawberries, bananas, and peaches)
lemon juice (if needed)
brown sugar

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy cookie removal. Roll out cookie dough until it becomes a thin rectangle (or as close as you can get it, mine was a very lumpy rectangle!)

Bake cookie according to directions on package. (I baked mine according to the package, temperature and all, but watched it closely to ensure it didn't burn.)

While the cookie is baking, whip together marshmallow fluff and cream cheese until creamy and mixed through. Chop up fruit into pieces, if needed.

**Important, if you use fruit for your pizza that could possibly brown after being cut up, be sure to sprinkle with some lemon juice. I didn't have any, and thus didn't do that. Result: browned fruit :(

When the cookie is done baking, remove from oven and let cool completely. Spread cream cheese mixture on as thick as desired. Refrigerate until completely cooled. Add fruit and refrigerate again until ready to eat. Sprinkle on a bit of brown sugar before serving.

Pesto Chicken Pizza

PEOPLE. This pizza is crazy delicious. If you like pesto, you must make this pizza!! You will not be disappointed. It takes literally no time to assemble or cook, and got rave review from my husband!! We tried to make it a smidge healthier by using thin crust, and we found individual size thin pizza crusts at the store! I made my own pizza sauce and pesto for this one, and I'll include the recipes for those after the main pizza recipe.

Pesto Chicken Pizza

as adapted from Plain Chicken

1 pizza crust 

1/4-1/3 c. pizza sauce

2-3 Tb. pesto

1-2 c. mozzarella cheese

5 oz. can of cooked chicken

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix chicken and pesto. Start with 2 Tb. and add to taste. Set aside.

Brush pizza sauce onto pre-cooked pizza crust. Put a layer of mozzarella cheese on top of the pizza sauce. Sprinkle the chicken/pesto mixture over the mozzarella. Sprinkle more mozzarella over the chicken.

Bake pizza for 10-15 minutes, or until crust begins to brown and cheese is thoroughly melted.

Pizza Sauce

You can totally make this on your own, and save yourself the money of buying a huge jar! The only money you put into this sauce is the cheap lil can of tomato sauce.

1 8oz. can of tomato sauce

1/2-1 Tb. pizza seasonings*

Open tomato sauce and pour into microwave safe bowl. Add seasonings to tomato sauce, starting with 1/2 Tb. Add more seasonings to taste, up to 1 Tb. Stir together. Put plastic wrap over the bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir.

*I have an already prepared "pizza seasonings" in my spice rack. This is simple enough to make on your own, though. Just combine equal parts of basil, oregano, marjoram, and garlic.

Pesto
adapted from Simply Recipes


1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed (or 2 TB. dried, crushed basil in a pinch)
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/6 c. pine nuts*
3/4 tsp. minced garlic (about 1 1/2 minced garlic cloves)
salt and fresh ground pepper

Pulse the pine nuts in a food processor a few times to break them into small pieces. Add in basil and pulse a few more times. Add in garlic and again pulse the food processor a few times.

Turn the food processor on and slowly add the olive oil in a slow stream. Stop a few times to scrape down the sides. Once the olive oil is completely mixed through, add the cheese and blend in the food processor until completely combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.


*I have heard that you can use walnuts in place of pine nuts, and I have to say...it worked!! I'm not a pesto snob by any means, so others might not agree with this, but if you don't have any pine nuts and you do happen to have walnuts--go for it!

Pizza Puffs

Last weekend, BC and I went over to my parents house to check out the Alabama game. I made up a couple different finger foods, and this was one of them! I ran across the original recipe on Annie's Eats and tweaked it a little bit from there. I LOVE pizza, and I couldn't resist giving this one a shot!

Pre-bake:

Post-bake:

1 "batch" of raw pizza dough (enough to make one pizza)
mozzarella sticks, cut into cubes
pepperoni slices
italian seasoning
olive oil
parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray a 9" pie plate with cooking spray. Pull off a piece of pizza dough, a little smaller than the size of a golf ball. Take one piece of pepperoni and one small cube of mozzarella, and press into the dough. Seal the sides of the dough up around the pepperoni and cheese. Be sure to seal up completely, or else the cheese will melt out! Once you have used up all the pizza dough, brush tops of the dough balls with olive oil. Sprinkle with italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the pizza puff tops turn golden. At about the 15 minute mark, bring the puffs out of the oven and brush again with olive oil and sprinkle with more italian seasoning and parmesan cheese if necessary. (The second brushing will help to keep the pizza puffs moistened in the hot oven.)

*When I made these, I didn't watch when I was sealing up the pizza puffs and had a lot of the cheese melt out. In the future I may try and bake them sealed side up, just in case, or else just make sure the sides are sealed up really well.