Pesto Pizza (71 toes.com) "Green Pizza"

Pizza crust “Trader Joe’s” or your favorite
Basil Pesto (Kirkland brand from Costco)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Rotisserie chicken (from Costco), shredded
Cornmeal (optional)

Sprinkle cornmeal on cookie sheet. Follow directions for pizza dough. After pre-baking (if your dough requires it) spread pesto all over it. Spread mozzarella cheese on top and add chicken. Bake according to dough directions.

Margherita Pizza (Sisterscafe.blogspot.com)

This pizza was amazing! It looked amazing, it smelled amazing, and it tasted amazing. I couldn't believe that I actually made it myself from scratch! I'm definitely making this one again! It has quite the Italian flare.

I make pizza almost every Friday night and have been working on improving my pizza each week. I've had some serious set backs, but this one is a huge step forward. Yahoo! I am very surprised that even my boys ate this with all the tomato chunks and green basil so visible. Of course, it helped that they couldn't refill their root beer until their pizza was gone.

2 hours

Dough:

1½ c very warm water

1 scant Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 c flour, divided

In a large mixing bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. Foam should form on top. Mix in salt, olive oil and 1 cup flour.* Add in remaining flour one cup at a time. If your dough is too sticky, add flour a little bit at a time until dough forms a ball. Knead for 5 minutes (or 10 minutes by hand). Place dough in oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for an hour in a warm place until double in size. Punch down dough and divide into 2 parts. Each half will make a 12” pizza. If you only want to make one pizza now, then put other dough ball in an oiled freezer bag and pop in the freezer for another day! Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes then roll out.

*The original recipe instructs: Whisk in salt, olive oil and 1 cup flour. Whisk in 2nd cup of flour. At this point put on dough hook and turn mixer in low as you add the last 2 cups of flour.

Pizza:

3 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, diced

1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/3+ c fresh basil leaves, julienne cut (or 1/2 Tbsp dry)

Mozzarella cheese, shredded (fresh is best)

¼ c Parmesan cheese, shredded (or 1/8 c canned)

1-2 Tbsp fresh basil, julienne cut

Combine all ingredients except cheese and toss lightly. Roll out pizza dough on a large, greased pan (I used a 16" round pan). Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella on dough. Spoon on tomato mixture and spread evenly over cheese. Sprinkle about ¼ cup Parmesan on top. Bake in preheated oven at 450° for 12-14 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown and crust is a deep golden. Let cool for 5 minutes. Sprinkle additional 1-2 tablespoons of fresh basil over pizza before serving.

Mexican Pizza (Mission)

½ lb ground beef, chuck
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder
1 small zucchini, diced
6-6” or 4-10” flour tortillas
1 c refried beans
4 Tbsp pizza sauce
1 c Mexican cheese blend, grated
1 Roma tomato, diced
Olives, sliced
1-2 green onions, sliced
2 tsp cilantro, fresh, chopped

Season the ground beef with salt, pepper, onion and garlic and sauté
until starting to brown.

Add chopped zucchini and finish cooking both until done, drain.

To make the crispy tortillas:
Place all tortillas directly on the oven rack at 350° and bake for 6-8 min.
Remove from the oven.

Microwave the refried beans for 1 min.
Chop tomato, olives, onions, and cilantro.

To build 1 Mexican Pizza, layer in this order:
1 crisp tortilla
Hot refried beans
Cooked ground beef and zucchini
Second crisp tortilla
1 heaping Tbsp of pizza sauce
Grated Mexican cheese blend
Chopped tomatoes
Olives
Green onions

Repeat for remaining serving(s).
Place two pizzas on a cookie sheet in 350° oven and bake for 12 min
to melt the cheese.
Sprinkle 1 tsp chopped cilantro evenly over the top of each pizza.
Serve pizzas whole.

Quick Pizza Dough (April Ashton)

Updated 11/11/12. Makes one cookie sheet of dough.

1 c warm water
1 Tbsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
2½ c white flour*

Add the water, yeast and sugar first. Then salt, oil and flour. Mix until bread is pulling away from side of the bowl. Mix for about 4 min or knead till elastic. Let rest for a few min. Roll dough into desired shape. Pull off an extra portion if the dough is very thick. Roll that onto an extra (smaller) pan (about ½ a cookie sheet). Poke with a fork to avoid bubbles, then top with desired toppings. Bake at 450° for 14 min. Crust should be slightly brown.

Top with half of a 7-oz jar of pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Additional fun toppings: ham, olives, Alfredo chicken, tomatoes, pineapple; BBQ chicken, cilantro and green onions. Tip: Let your kids slice olives with an egg slicer.

*You can substitute up to 1 cup of white wheat flour for the regular flour with good results. Add 1 tsp of wheat gluten if you do.


For variation, make pizza balls and dip them in pizza sauce.

Divide the dough into 15 balls. Add a slice of pepperoni and mozzarella cheese to each. Seal. *Spray a 9x13 pan with olive oil. Arrange the pizza balls. Spray again with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic and herbs. Bake at 425° for 17 min. Dip in heated pizza sauce.

*Try melting butter in the bottom of the pan first, then rolling each ball in that.


For Valentine's Day, divide the dough and let the kids each make their own heart-shaped pizza.


For Halloween, cook your pizza on a circular pan and make it look like a Jack-o-Lantern:


Or make Candy Corn Pizza (from ourbestbites.com)

Make a thick ring of cheddar around the outside edge and a thick layer of mozzarella in the center. (You can see that mine isn't thick enough to cover the pizza sauce completely.) Cut into wedges.

Breakfast Pizza (Whitney Heap)

1 lb sausage
2 pckg crescent rolls
1½ c frozen grated hash browns
12 eggs
Salt and pepper
1 c grated cheese
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Brown sausage. Roll out the package of crescent rolls to cover a cookie sheet. Pinch seams together to seal and make a crust around the edge of pan.

Sprinkle sausage and hash browns evenly across the pan.

Whip the eggs in a separate bowl and pour over the sausage and hash browns.

Top with salt, pepper and grated cheese. Finish with Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 350° for 30 min.