Homemade Pizza

Saturday nights can be a delightful thing when done right.  

My roommate was returning from a quick but tiring trip on Saturday evening and I knew we'd be receiving a guest sometime around then as well.  I personally want nothing more than a home-cooked meal after long days of traveling.  The problem is  I want this home-cooked meal to be lighter so I don't feel like a ton of bricks settled into my stomach when I finally make it up to my bed.

With this in mind I decided to make dinner for my roommate and guest.  Armed with my best friend on the phone and the idea that pizza would be a good idea, I made my way to the grocery store and picked up a jar of alfredo sauce, a red bell pepper, a small head of broccoli, boneless skinless chicken breasts, pizza dough in a tube, and some pre-shredded Italian cheese blend.  Also a frozen pumpkin pie because it's pie season but I promised myself I'd wait until November until I actually made one.  So I cheated.  

Homemade Alfredo Pizza

I cut the chicken into thin strips (maybe 1/2 an inch wide) and threw them into a skillet with some olive oil, a couple gloves of minced garlic and a whole lot of italian seasoning.  While these were cooking, I gutted the pepper and used my mandolin to cut it into thin circular strips.  I also cut the broccoli.  After the chicken was mostly browned, I threw the peppers and broccoli and and tossed them around so they were coated in the oil, italian seasoning, and garlic.  

I should note that I have a recipe for homemade pizza dough that requires a certain amount of rising and cooking as soon as the rising was done.  Because I only had an approximate time of arrival for people I opted to get the store bought crust this time around.  Next time, if time allows, I'll do it from scratch.


I rolled the crust out on a baking tray I'd given a few spays of nonstick spray.  It was a regular thick crust so I patted it down a bit.  I put a tiny bit of olive oil on the top of the crust and spread it around.  I then used maybe 1/2 a cup of alfredo sauce and spread it around the top too.  You can use as much or as little as you'd like.  I put the cheese down after that (again, use as much or as little as you'd like).   I am not a huge fan of melted cheese and so like to hide in under things.  The less I noticed it the better.  But other people like it, and it's pizza, so I couldn't just get rid of it. 

After putting down the sauce and the cheese, I scooped the chicken and veggie mixture onto the pizza and made it relatively even.  Threw the whole thing into the oven and cooked it for the time the crust instructions told me to (17 minutes at 425*).  

It was delicious.  I have to admit, however, it got a little browner and crispier than I would have liked.  My roommate and I were distracted by Jon Stewart's ending speech at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.  You can watch it HERE.  I appreciated it greatly, but missed the timer telling me to take out the pizza. 
I digress.  
The pumpkin pie.  Ask anyone.  I am terrible at reading directions.  So, in my skimming of the baking directions I thought "Oh!  It only has to cook for 65-75 minutes and then it'll be ready to go.  I'll put it in after the pizza is done."  Of course, I neglected to read the part where it says the pie needs to stand for at least 2 hours after baking.  Needless to say we are having the pie at lunch today (which is a vegetable stew I made in the crock pot on Friday night.  I'm just going to throw it in the oven and bake it like a casserole with a bit of cheese and bread crumbs to give it some crispiness).