Refrigerator Pizza

I try to plan our weekly menus. I really do. It helps us save money, only buy what we need, helps us to eat healthy, and spend as much time together as possible. 

Last night I had a healthy grilled chicken dinner planned to cook, and then once the love of my life came home from work, I realize... we were having pizza!

I think I've mentioned before how irresistible pizza has become to my husband and me. 

(Luckily he went for a run after he got home, so I had time to whip out a quick pizza dough recipe and change plans completely.)

Since I decided to make pizza on a whim, it was going to have to be a "refrigerator pizza" (meaning the type of pizza toppings I was going to make, was going to be decided by whatever was left over in the refrigerator).

I had already grilled chicken for my planned menu, so I figured that was going to be the main thing on the pizza. We had plenty of cheese or some reason, so then I thought "Stuffed-crust"! Luckily we had barbeque sauce, and bacon. So it was decided. Barbeque chicken & bacon stuffed-crust pizza! (this might have been the best unplanned dinner I have ever made!)

I used this Quick Pizza Dough recipe:

In a medium bowl, dissolve:

1 packet of dry active yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar 

in 1 cup of warm water (110 degrees F) .

Let stand until creamy (10 minutes).

Stir in:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Beat until smooth. 

Let stand 5 min. 

Roll out dough on a floured surface. 

After I had the dough rolled out, I placed it on the greased baking sheet with dough hanging off the edges, as if I were making a pie (a pizza pie).

Then I sprinkled mozzarella cheese around the inside edge of the pan. (Our stuffed-crust didn't turn out like delivery stuffed-crust. I'm thinking there's a trick to it, like they use string cheese or grease the inside of the dough so the cheese doesn't quite get cooked into the dough- as ours did. If any one knows the trick, let me know! This version was still delicious though!)

And then I folded over the edges of the dough. Pressing down the edges, again like pie dough. 

Once that part was finished, I spread the Bulls-eye original barbeque sauce.

Topped with mozzarella and extra sharp cheddar cheeses.

Added 1 grilled chicken breast (cubed).

Last, but definitely not least, bacon pieces (pre-packaged from Publix). 

Baked in the oven at 400 degrees F just long enough for the dough to crisp up, and the cheese to bubble (about 10 min.).

And there it is...

Again... this pizza was sooo good!! Normally unplanned or otherwise "creative" meals don't turn out so well here. But this one will be made again!

Indulge a little...

Does your mouth begin to salivate every time those cheesy threads stretch between a piece of pizza and the rest of the pie.....on the tv commerical? What about the pictures on the direct mail "coupons"? Yeah, mine does too.

Ever since I've been married it seems the one (well one of the many) calorie weaknesses I have is pizza. Every time I open the mail box it seems there's another pizzeria in town, and my desire to cook the healthy meal I planned 2 weeks ago is gone. (I'm exaggerating how far out I plan the meals by a long shot)

Well, I have found the recipe that will change your life! (and your waist size, sorry!)

**Warning, this is NOT low calorie, or healthy in any sense of the word. It will however save you about $15 for every $20 you would spend at a neighborhood pizzeria!**

Now we've made pizza a lot, but I just couldn't seem to get the crust right. It was always decent, but never the kind of crust you'd hear people say "oh my gosh, this crust is amazing!" I'm a bread lover, so this is important to me. 

Here it is. I can't take credit for it. Someone else is the mastermind behind the deliciousness!!

Here is the Crust recipe (the tips help a lot!).

And here's what I added on top:

added my own tomato sauce

6 cheese Italian blend (grated)

Mozzerella (grated)

Asiago (grated)

Chedder (grated)

Pepperoni

Sausage

Green Peppers

Absolutely mouth watering, stomach stuffing, AMAZING, bread-y, cheesy goodness! (These photos have not been enchanced in any way)

Also, we made these scrumptios pumpkin waffles (from a mix made by the fresh market) for dessert!

We added butterscotch and white chocolate morsels, caramel syrup, and powdered sugar!

Okay, tomorrow we'll go back to making calorie counting taste good! But o was this break worth it!