Pesto Pizza

My in laws came in for the weekend, now normally when they come to visit they want OIP (original Italian pizza, a local restaurant that is out of this world good!) for lunch which means I don’t have to cook. We are down to one vehicle temporarily and my husband had to take it to work and my sister in law took my in laws van to visit a friend. OH No! No vehicles and nothing planed to eat! what do I do?! I frantically raided all my cabinets, I had plenty of things to make as side dishes but no meat,  and the meat I did have had no time to thaw! Then a light bulb went off, I suddenly remembered a recipe I had once seen online using goat cheese and arugula. Although I didn’t have goat cheese I had plenty of mozzarella, and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

2 pre baked pizza crusts

4 Tbsp. store bought basil pesto (Classico is my favorite)

2 tomatoes sliced thinly (6-9 slices of tomato on each pizza )

1 C. shredded mozzarella

about 10 slices fresh mozzarella (5 for each pizza)

olive oil

cracked black pepper ( I bought some at Aldi’s for 99 cents!)

2 handfuls of baby arugula (or spinach, arugula mix)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

drizzle olive oil on front and back of pizza crusts (about 2-3 tsp.) and using hands rub all over the front and back of the pizza crust. Lay crust on a pizza pan and spread 2 Tbsp. of pesto on the crust evenly. Next sprinkle with about 1/2 C of  shredded mozzarella cheese and top with sliced tomato and about 5 slices of fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle the pizza with some crack pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes until cheese is melted take pizza out and let cool for a few minutes. Next top with a handful of baby arugula, a sprinkle of sea salt and a couple drizzles of olive oil.

yields about 18 small slices

and for dessert….

This delicious pesto pizza along with these decadent red velvet cup cakes from a local baker down the street from me made for a perfect lunch for my in-laws. 🙂