Southwestern Pizza

Sunday night dinner? Southwestern PIZZA!

I fully intended to make BLT's. Honest. But I had one leftover chicken breast...and some green onion...and black olives...and next thing I knew I was getting out the pizza dough recipe.

I've only made homemade pizza a handful of times. This is something that I sincerely want to remedy. The three of us looooove pizza and its really not that difficult to make.

My crust recipe came from Allrecipes and I followed it to a T.

Pizza Crust
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.
**Thank you Jay from allrecipes.com!

The original sauce recipe also came from Allrecipes

Pizza Sauce
(modified recipe by me! Original recipe from allrecipes)
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
6 fluid ounces warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Mix everything together in a medium sized bowl and allow to sit for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Once my dough was done rising on the pizza pan, I topped with the deliciously delicious sauce. I then added a TON of mozzerella cheese. I had raided my fridge earlier and had one left over chicken breast from my fried chicken I had made the night before. I chopped it up and put it on top of the mozzerella cheese. I then chopped up two green onions and some black olives and put them over the chicken.

To give it a little more of a...cheesy flavor, I shredded some monterey jack and some sharp cheddar. I popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and it was beautiful!

I served with salsa, sour cream, and sliced avocado. My husband has already asked for this again and between him and my brother-in-law there was only one piece of pizza left!

This was so easy to put together and I had all of the ingredients already in my pantry. I will be making this again soon!

Liz

**OK...I took some pictures of this but...they didn't turn out so well! It looked sooo good but it was dark out and my pictures looked very unappetizing...so I won't be putting them up. Next time! :)