Chicken Avocado Pizza

It would seem Koob and I have now made it a tradition to make pizza when we hang out on Tuesday nights.  That, or I just really want to get rid of all of the pizza dough I made 2 weeks ago (one more round to go!).  This week, we decided to experiment with a summer inspired pizza recipe I’ve had stashed on my computer for about a year now.  If you’re interested in this recipe, though, I’d recommend waiting until the summer to try it.  Something about it just struck me as off, and I seriously think it just isn’t warm enough to be eating something so summer-y tasting.  Anyway, if you like avocados, this pizza is definitely for you!

Ingredients:

2 avocados – peeled, pitted and diced

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic, sliced

1 tbsp lime juice, or to taste

salt to taste

1 unbaked pizza crust

1 c chopped cooked chicken

1 tomato, diced

1 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spread pizza dough onto a greased pizza pan and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

2. In a food processor, combine the avocados, cilantro, and garlic. Puree while adding lime juice and salt to taste. Cover, and set aside.

3. Spread the avocado mixture thickly over the top of the baked pizza crust, then arrange chicken and tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with cheese, and season lightly with cayenne pepper.

4. Return topped pizza to the oven and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until the cheese has just melted and the crust is lightly toasted.

Reuben Pizza

My friend Koob and I have started making dinner together each week to have an excuse to hang out since our usual weekly trivia has been canceled for about a month now.  I saw this recipe for reuben pizza a few weeks ago and was really excited to try it.  I know making a reuben as a pizza sounds a bit weird, but seriously, it’s delicious.  Also, reubens are basically my favorite sandwich, I order them almost every time I get lunch somewhere that serves them (ps, if you’re in the Delta, try the Reubens at Crave in Cleveland and at Bistro in Greenwood, nom).  Luckily, Koob’s a fan of reubens too, so she was totally game to try this pizza with me tonight.

Ingredients:

1 batch pizza dough, store bought or homemade

1/2 c thousand island dressing

2 c shredded Swiss cheese

6 ounces deli corned beef, cut into strips

1 c sauerkraut, rinsed and drained

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a large pizza pan and spread the dough out on the pan.

2. Spread half of the salad dressing over the pizza dough. Sprinkle with half of the Swiss cheese. Arrange corned beef over the cheese, then drizzle with the remaining salad dressing. Top with sauerkraut and remaining Swiss cheese.

3. Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese melts and crust begins to become golden brown.

 

BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ sauce is probably my favorite condiment in the world.  Some people love ranch, but frankly I think they must be dirty communists.  BBQ is where it’s at.  Random aside, I should probably try to make some from scratch one of these days.  But seriously, I love that stuff.  I’ll dip my fries in that stuff, put it on bratwursts (much to my friends’ confusion when I did that a month or so ago), ALWAYS put it on burgers, and try to incorporate it into pizza as often as possible.  Honestly, if I could always use BBQ on my pizza instead of tomato sauce, I think I would.  But, other people eat my pizzas, so I have to be “normal” most of the time and just be satisfied with making BBQ chicken pizza (probably my all-time favorite kind of pizza) every so often to satisfy my cravings.

If you’re been living under a rock your entire life and have never experienced the joys of a BBQ chicken pizza, I am requiring that you immediately go to the store, buy some Sweet Baby Ray’s (the best BBQ sauce, hands down), and immediately make this pizza.  Like, tonight.  You won’t be sorry.  And if you already know that my obsession is warranted, then make sure you rekindle your love for BBQ chicken with this pizza asap.

Ingredients (makes pizza, about 4 servings):

1 store-bought pizza crust, or homemade pizza dough

1 chicken breast

1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I recommend Sweet Baby Ray’s), divided

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced (so necessary, I’ve made this without the garlic before and it’s not nearly as good)

1/2 onion, sliced

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup roasted red peppers, sliced

 

Directions:

1. Preheat over according to crust directions or to 400 degrees F for homemade dough.

2. In a small skillet, cook the chicken breast and 1/4 cup BBQ sauce covered over medium-low heat until cooked through and meat can be shredded with a fork.  Shred the chicken and allow it to continue cooking in the sauce for 5-10 additional minutes.  Meanwhile, cook garlic and onions over low heat for about 10 minutes.

3. Place crust or prepared dough on a pizza pan and cover with remaining BBQ sauce.  Sprinkle with cheese and top with cooked chicken, onions and garlic, and roasted red peppers.  Bake according to crust directions, or for homemade dough for 20-25 minutes, until crust begins to brown and cheese is bubbly.

Pizza Dough

I used to be really afraid of yeast.  Now that all of you have this mental image of me running screaming away from a piece of bread, let me explain.  When I say I used to be afraid of yeast, well I mean cooking with yeast, ie making my own bread dough.  I’ve told you before about my love for Taste of Home magazine, well last fall there was a section in one of the issues that focused on baking bread.  All the breads sounded AMAZING, but they sounded so intimidating!  They always said what temperature water you needed to disolve the yeast in, and then there were the trouble shooting tips…your bread didn’t turn out?  Here’s what you might have done wrong: kneaded too much, didn’t knead enough, let it rise too long, didn’t let it rise long enough, etc, etc.  Are you serious?  I definitely thought that was WAY too finicky for me to bother with.

While I was home for the summer, however, I mentioned my fear of yeast to my sister (who, for the record, is a fabulous cook).  She took it upon herself to show me that yeast isn’t something to be afraid of and showed me how to make pizza dough.  Pizza dough is a great starting step in cooking with yeast, I’ve heard it’s pretty difficult to screw up.  I would definitely recommend attempting to make your own pizza dough.  It may seem daunting, but it’s really simple.  Also, people are always incredibly impressed when you have them over for pizza and they find out the crust is homemade too.  Just saying.

Once it gets cooler here I’m hoping to try other bread recipes now that I’ve gotten over my initial fear of yeast, I still have that Taste of Home issue with the bread recipes, so maybe I’ll have to bust that out.  As far as the pizza dough goes, here’s the recipe I use:

Ingredients:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 tbsp sugar

2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees to be exact, but that basically just means warm)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

6 cups flour

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit until creamy; about 10 minutes.

2.Stir the olive oil, salt and 4 cups of the flour into the yeast mixture. Mix in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.

3. When the dough pulls together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume; about 1 hour.

4. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and form into rounds. Cover the rounds and let them rest for about 10 minutes.

To make a pizza:

5.Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

6. Spread one of the portions of dough into your desired shape (if you have a rolling pin, use that), cover it with your favorite toppings and bake at 425 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until the crust and cheese are golden brown.