BBQ Chicken Pizza

As hesitant as DH was to me making this pizza, I.loved.it!  I think my favorite part of it was the cilantro added as a garnish on the BBQ Chicken Pizza.  (I love cilantro in the first place...just was not sure how it would be with BBQ.)  I really didn't want to open up a jar of marinara for the pizzas made tonight, but ended up anyways for variety---just in case not everyone in the family liked it.  However, there were only a couple slices of this for leftovers.  The recipe is adapted from Food.com.

Ingredients:

pizza dough or homemade

1/4 - 1/2 cup honey BBQ sauce

1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

cooked chicken thinly sliced

cilantro chopped (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, or as prescribed on the packaging for the pizza dough.  Coat the pizza pan with a layer of canola oil, and spread the dough in the pan.  Smear the sauce on the dough and layer the pizza with the cheese and chicken.  (The chicken I used was cooked in a sweet BBQ sauce.)  Sprinkle additional cheese over the chicken, if preferred.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  When pizza is done, remove from oven, and sprinkle the pizza with cilantro as a garnish, if preferred.  

...Since I don't have a pizza pan, I used a 9x13 pan.  Once the pizza was done baking, I was able to transfer it to a cookie sheet to cut and serve easier.

...If you are using plain chicken, toss lightly in some BBQ sauce before placing on pizza.

Bread Machine Pizza Dough

Normally, my DH has always made the homemade pizza in our house.  But, I just found this recipe earlier this week.  He thought it tasted really good and "homemade," far better than the french bread pizza I made earlier this week.   Either way, it's a win-win!  The recipe is adapted from Salad in a Jar.  There were very little leftovers with my family of six; bummer!

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
3 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 pkg)

Directions:
In the bread machine, add the ingredients in order, and select the dough cycle option.  Once the dough has completed rising, punch it down to get rid of any air bubbles.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and spray 2 9x13 pans or pizza pans with some canola oil. (I don't have a pizza pan; the 9x13 pan worked wonderfully.)

When ready, pull the dough out of the machine, and separate into two sections.  Roll out the dough to the desired shape.  If the dough is too elastic, let it rest a minute, and relax.  Place in desired pan, and spray dough with some more of the canola oil.  Then, apply a thin layer of sauce, cheese, and toppings.

Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes, or more if too much sauce was applied to dough.  ( I checked mine at 10 minutes to check for doneness.)  Slice with a pizza cutter and serve.  (I did not have a problem taking the pizza out of the 9x13 pan and placing on a cookie sheet for easier cutting.)

Quick Cheese Pizza Bites

Trying to clear out the freezer, I thawed out some hamburger buns bought on clearance that I bought a while back.  These Pizza Bites make good snacks for appetizers or meals that is quick, easy, and frugal.  I am on my second batch of buns drying out.  The first set did not last long.

Ingredients:
1 package of dried out buns (hamburger or hot dog)
Marinara
Mozzarella Cheese


Preheat oven to 400.  On a cookie sheet place dried out bun halves, with the "insides" up.

Generously, spoon marinara on each one.  It did this twice, as the bread soaked up the first layer of sauce.  I also like my pizzas saucy.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Bake in oven for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

variation:  Add pepperoni, sausage, onions, green or red bell peppers, mushrooms, etc to your liking.