Southwest Pizza

We do like our pizza, and we love nachos, so this was a crafty way to combine the two.  It was good; just make sure you get your crust nice and crisp.  You can add any other Southwest toppings you want--maybe corn, red onion, or cilantro.  You can also dip it in more salsa, sour cream, or even Ranch dressing.  Yum!

Southwest Pizza

1 refrigerated pizza crust
1 cup salsa
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained
1/4 cup pickled jalapenos
1 cup shredded Mexian four-cheese blend

Prebake crust according to package directions.  Spread crust with salsa.  Sprinkle with beans, cheese, and jalapeno peppers.  Bake at package-directed temperature until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Bubble Up Pizza

This is such an easy pizza recipe that any kid or adult would love.  It's nothing fancy, but it's really good.  As with any pizza recipe, you can use your favorite toppings; we used pepperoni, jalapenos, and mushrooms.  Thanks to Plain Chicken for sharing yet another of her recipes!

Bubble Up Pizza

2 (12oz) cans refrigerated biscuit dough
1 (15oz) jar pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Your favorite pizza toppings

Preheat oven to 375.  Cut biscuits into quarters and place in a large bowl.  Toss biscuits with pizza sauce.  Add pizza toppings and half of the cheese.  Toss until well blended.  Spray a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray.  Pour biscuit mixture into pan and top with remaining cheese.  Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until biscuits are done.

Pizza Hut Pizza Crust

I love Pizza Hut's crust; it always tastes so buttery and delicious.  I found a copycat recipe on the internet and decided to give it a try.  Our end result was really good, but it didn't have quite the same effect as the original. 

The recipe tells you to use 9" cake pans, but I didn't have any pans like that, and I wanted to use our new pizza stone (thanks, Kinsey and James!).  After you make the dough, the recipe says to put 3 oz of oil in bottom of the pan before you put the crust in; obviously, that's what gives the crust its buttery taste...but that's 1/3 of a cup of oil!  I drizzled 1 oz (which is the same as 2 Tbsp) on the pizza stone before putting the dough on it, and I feel like it just made the bottom of the pizza soggy.  We like it crispy, and it wasn't crispy.  However, when we reheated it on the hot griddle, it was perfect!  A hot pizza pan or pizza stone may be the trick.

Here are some other notes on the recipe: It will tell you to use a rolling pin to roll out the crust, but I don't have one, so I just used my fingers.  Also, be aware that it makes three pizzas!  It says they're 9" pizzas, but depending on how thick or thin they are, you can probably get them closer to 11" or 12", so be ready to make them for a crowd.  You could also make two and allow for leftovers (which is what we did), and then we threw the last dough ball into a Ziploc and are keeping it in the refrigerator until we can make another later this week.

The ingredients made a great crust, and I will make this again--I'll just pre-bake the crust and not use any oil.  I'm going to put the original recipe up here in hopes that it'll work better for you than it did for me, but I'd caution you again not to use so much oil in the pans!  Your heart will thank you.

Pizza Hut Crust

1 1/3 cups warm water
1 packet dry yeast
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (for dough)
9 oz vegetable oil (3 oz per pan)
Butter flavored cooking spray

In a large bowl, combine the yeast, salt, sugar, and dry milk.  Add water, and stir to mix well; allow to sit for 2 minutes.  Add the 2 Tbsp oil and stir again.  Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed.  Turn out onto a flat surface, and knead for about 10 minutes.  Divide dough into three balls. 

In three 9" cake pans, put 3 oz of oil in each, making sure it is spread evenly.  Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9" circle.  Place in cake pans.  Spray the outer edge of the dough with cooking spray.  Cover with a plate, and place in a warm area for dough to rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. 

For each crust, heat the oven to 475.  Spoon sauce, cheese, and desired toppings on pizza crust.  Cook until cheese is bubbly and outer crust is brown, about 8-10 minutes. 

Grilled Pizza

I was so excited to find this recipe for grilled pizza.  We had never done anything like this before, but it turned out so good!  It wasn't too hard or complicated; it just takes some careful attention at the end.  We'll definitely do this again soon.


Here are some notes on the actual recipe: I'm not sure what the difference is in pizza crust yeast and regular yeast, but maybe the pizza crust yeast just works faster; I really don't know.  The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil, but it didn't say what kind, so I just used vegetable oil.  At the end, though, when it says to brush the dough with oil before putting it on the grill, I switched to olive oil for some reason; you can do whatever.  The recipe also said not to load the dough up too heavily with sauce and toppings, but we still had four toppings plus cheese, and it was fine.  The list of ingredients also calls for 3 cups of flour, but the first step says to mix just two cups in with other ingredients.  The remaining cup is to add to it when stirring and kneading, but I never measured it out.


The recipe makes eight individual pizzas, but if you're serving big eaters, allow two pizzas per person; leftovers never hurt anyone.  We could only fit two pizzas on the grill at a time, and we made four total.  The rest of the dough is in the fridge for later this week.


The grill is supposed to medium-hot, but we really weren't sure how to gauge that.  It took a trial run of one burned pizza, but the later ones turned out perfect.  You'll see if you need to adjust the heat of the grill or the time of cooking; our pizzas did better at 2-3 minutes instead of 3-4 minutes.  I'm sure you could do this on a grill pan too, especially if it's too cold to be outside.


You'll be so impressed with this!  You should try it!  Here are some pictures from start to finish.

Grilled Pizzas


3 cups all-purpose flour
1 envelope Fleischmann's Pizza Crust Yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups very warm water (120-130 degrees F)
1/3 cup oil
Additional flour for kneading
Additional oil for grilling
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Other toppings as desired


Start charcoal or preheat gas grill to medium-high heat.  Combine two cups of flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Add water and oil, and mix until well blended, about 1 minute.  Gradually add enough flour to form a soft dough.  Dough should form a ball and be slightly sticky.  Knead on a floured surface, adding more flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic and not sticky, about 5 minutes.


Divide dough into 8 portions.  Pat or roll dough on a well-floured counter to about 8-inch circles.  Brush both sides of the crust with additional oil.  Using hands, lift each crust carefully and place on grill.  Cook for 3-4 minutes or until bottom is slightly browned and top looks set.  Using tongs, remove crust from grill, and place grilled-side-up on tray or baking sheet.  Lightly add sauce and toppings to the grilled side of the crust.  Carefully slide each pizza back onto the grill and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until bottom of the crust is lightly browned and cheese is melted.  Remove from grill and serve immediately.

Tomato Soup Pizza

The idea for this came from an old recipe in the Dallas Morning News.  The original recipe used tomato soup instead of pizza sauce, but it gave specific toppings: sun-dried tomatoes, Cheddar cheese, and bacon.  I changed up the toppings (although that sounds like an incredibly delicious pizza), but the tomato soup was the same.  It was excellent.  The mildness of the tomato soup really allowed for the flavor of the toppings to come through.  We'll absolutely make this again.

Tomato Soup Pizza

1 can refrigerated pizza dough
1 can condensed tomato soup
Mozzarella/cheddar cheeses
Desired toppings (we used pepperoni, green bell pepper, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes)

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray, unroll pizza dough, and bake in 400 degree oven for 8 minutes.  Remove pizza from oven and spread soup on half-baked dough.  Top with desired toppings, and put bakc in oven for 6-8 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is golden.

Pizza Dough with Wine

Mario Batali knows his Italian food, so I adapted this pizza dough recipe from his.  He mixes the yeast in a mixture of wine and water!  I love the idea of it, and the crust was good and sweet.  Honestly, I like just about anything with wine and honey. 

When you use the wine, make sure it's room temperature so it won't upset the temperature balance the yeast needs to work its magic.  I used Riesling, my favorite, but you can use any white or light red wine.  I also used whole-wheat flour for this since it was all I had, and it didn't take away any of the taste.  If anything, it made me feel better about eating more of it.  It wasn't a thin crust, so if you want a dough that's a bit heartier, this is the one for you. 

Also interesting about Mario Batali's recipe is that it ends as you're about to bake it.  He gives no time or temperature, so use what you know to work.  I don't have a pizza stone, so I baked it on a baking sheet at 425.  I prebaked the crust for 8 minutes, covered it with toppings, and then baked it an additional 10 minutes. 

You really should try this.  Once the wine is open to cook with, just pour a glass for yourself!


Pizza Dough with Wine

1/4 cup light red or white wine
3/4 cup warm water
1 packet active dry yeast
1/2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
3 cups flour

Place wine, water, and yeast in a large bowl, and stir until dissolved.  Add the honey, salt, and 1 Tbsp olive oil, and mix well to combine.  Add 1 cup flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it becomes a loose batter.  Add 2 more cups of the flour and stir for 2-3 minutes, incorporating as much of the flour as you can with the wooden spoon.

Bring the dough together by hand and turn out onto a floured surface.  Knead for 6-8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and firm.  Place in a clean, lightly-oiled bowl, using remaining tablespoon of oil, and cover with a towel.  Let rise in the warmest part of the kitchen for 45 minutes. 

For individual pizzas or calzones, cut the dough into four equal pizzas and knead into rounds.  For one large pizza, knead into one large round.  For either, let rest fifteen minutes. 

Buffalo Chicken Pizza Bites

We're at the beach for a few days, so we needed a good snack that would fit into the cooler and wouldn't require any utensils.  Of course, Plain Chicken had the perfect answer: buffalo chicken pizza bites!  It's all the tastiness of buffalo chicken dip in pizza crust.  Yes, please! 

Of course, I immediately regretted making them, since bite-sized snacks are pretty much my kryptonite.  It's the same with the sausage balls; I eat one, and then I have to eat four more.  Honestly, I'm hoping everyone else will finish these off before I do. 

Buffalo Chicken Pizza Bites

2 cans refrigerated pizza dough

1 (12.5oz) can white meat chicken, drained

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

3 oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp Frank's Hot Sauce

4 tsp Ranch dressing

cooking spray

Dipping Sauce

1 cup Ranch dressing

1/3 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix together chicken, cream cheese, Frank's Hot Sauce, Ranch dressing, and 1/2 cup Cheddar. 

Unroll one roll of pizza dough into a large rectangle.  Cut dough into 24 squares (easiest with a pizza cutter).  Place 1 tsp of chicken mixture in the center of each square.  Lift up the corners of each square and press seams together.  Place, seam-side-down, into a sprayed mini-muffin tin.  Spray tops of rolls with cooking spray, and sprnkle remaining 1/4 cup Cheddar. 

Place rolls in oven, and bake 8-10 minutes.  While pizza bites are baking, mix together remaining Ranch and hot sauce.  Serve warm with dipping sauce.

No Fear Pizza Crust

I impressed myself by this recipe.  I'm a little scared of cooking with yeast just because I haven't done it much.  I wasn't sure how this pizza crust was going to turn out, but it was great!  I think this is a particularly easy recipe because it only requires the dough to rest for ten minutes, not to sit and rise for hours.  I don't have a pizza stone, so I baked it on a cookie sheet that I sprayed with cooking spray.  So good!  You can have whatever toppings you want, obviously, but we had diced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, chopped onion, sliced mushrooms, and chopped bell pepper.  Try it, and you'll impress yourself and your friends. 

No Fear Pizza Crust

1 cup warm water
1 Tbsp white sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Stir water, yeast, and sugar together until dissolved.  Add the olive oil and the salt.  Stir in the flour until well blended.  Let dough rest for 10 minutes. 

Pat dough in pan or onto a pizza stone using fingers dipped in olive oil.  If desired, sprinkle basil, thyme, or other seasonings on crust.  Prebake crust at 425 for 8 minutes; top with desired toppings and bake for an additional 10 minutes. 

Homemade Pizza

Okay, it's nothing fancy. I didn't make the crust, I didn't grate the cheese, I didn't even slice the mushrooms. But I did bake it myself, and by not ordering it from the local pizza place, I felt justified in putting it up here. More than anything, it makes for good ideas. Usually when you want pizza, you order up the greasy goodness, and if you get more than just one topping, you're really paying for it. This is a healthier, hopefully cheaper alternative that you might feel better about and have fun doing. This was also the perfect way to use up some extra veggies I had before going out of town (beach time!). Use whatever toppings you like; again, I'll write down what I did. (What I like about this pizza is that I don't use tomato sauce--just diced tomatoes. I think it makes it a little bit lighter.)


Homemade Pizza

1 can Pillsbury pizza crust (I used thin crust)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 chopped green bell pepper
handful of sliced mushrooms
handful of sliced pepperoni (I'm not very good with my measurements)
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Prebake the crust for at least 8 minutes! When crust is prebaked, top with toppings and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

Pesto Calzone Braid

Oh my gosh, this is soooo good. My pictures show my messiness but probably don't show how delicious the calzone is. (The braid also looks so impressive!) Again, I don't have a nice serving dish to take a pretty picture, but I could take a picture of the empty pan and few crumbs left, since Biz and I ate the whole thing in one sitting. In the recipe I got from Plain Chicken, she used chicken as the main filling (besides cheese, tomato sauce, and pesto), but we added pepperoni, green bell pepper, and mushrooms. So delicious! We'll definitely make this again!

As you can see in the pictures, the dough got a little sticky when I was trying to cut it and cross the strips. That's because it was hotter than the sun in the house; we turned the AC off in the house since we went out of town, and it was still easily 80 degrees in the house.

Pesto Calzone Braid


1 can crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped (I used one chicken breast)
1/3 cup pesto
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
(we added pepperoni and 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped)


Preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (or in my case, foil).


Finely chop chicken. In a large bowl, mix chicken, pesto, ricotta, garlic, tomato paste, parmesan, and mozzarella. Mix all until well combined.


Unroll crescent roll dough, and arrange flat on a baking sheet, pinching the seams together to form a single sheet of dough. Using scissors or a knife, cut one-inch strips in toward the center, starting from the long sides. There should be a solid strip, about three inches wide, down the center, with the cut strips forming a fringe down each side.


Spread the chicken mixture down the center strip. Fold the side strips across the chicken mixture, alternating sides. Pinch or twist to seal. Bake at 375 for 25-28 minutes or until golden brown.