Chicken Pesto Pizza

When I saw this recipe for Pesto Pizza, I knew I had to try it. The combination of the vegetables, chicken, and Italian seasoning that is cooked together before put on the pizza just sounded great. This dinner was so delicious, and very adaptable to any kind of vegetable you want to throw in. I had some Trader Joe's refrigerated pizza dough, so I used that. For some reason, I don't have much luck with this dough . . . it always sticks to the pan - even if I put copious amounts of olive oil underneath - and who wants to do that?! Bob and I both agreed that a more substantial crust was necessary to stand up to these ingredients. He even came up with an awesome variation that we are going to try next (stay tuned!)

Bob was watching a show about Venetian food on the Travel Channel as I was preparing this dinner, can you tell I was inspired?

There is a cutting mat underneath those veggies, I promise!

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Original ingredients:
1 pound chicken breast tenders
1 Tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
3 Tablespoons pesto
1 cup mozzarella cheese
2 medium zucchini, halved twice and thinly sliced
yellow, red, orange, and green bell peppers, chopped
mushrooms, thinly sliced

Also see the link below for a homemade pizza dough recipe!

My ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1 Tablespoon, give or take, "Pizza seasoning" (same stuff as Italian)
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 orange pepper, diced
~2-3 Tablespoons basil mixture (see below)
1 cup, give or take, shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 package Trader Joe's refrigerated pizza dough - I can't recommend this! :( I think Boboli would be good though!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F.

1. Heat a little bit of olive oil over medium/high heat, and cook the chicken for a few minutes. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

2. Before chicken is cooked through, add vegetables and more Italian seasoning. Cook until chicken is done and veggies are tender.

3. Roll out dough on pan sprayed with cooking spray or greased with oil. Prebake crust for a few minutes.

4. Spread pesto evenly over pizza crust. Top with chicken/veggie mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

So, I'm calling my pesto a "basil mixture" because most pesto has pine nuts and I obviously can't use those. What I did was use about 1/2 tablespoon basil puree (comes in a tube at the grocery store), added a little grated Parmesan and some olive oil and whisked it together. That's it!

Source: Adapted from Meet Me in the Kitchen