2 Different Versions of Pizza and Salad Night

Pizza and salad night is a standard at my house. Not greasy take-out but healthy and semi-homemade.

Pizza is quick and always pleases. Paring it with a salad is great because you can chop up many of the same veggies for toppings as well as salad. Also, I find it a great way to use up left over veggies and meat because it actually doesn't take, for example, a whole large onion to top a pizza.

Here are two different versions of Pizza that I rotate with a regular tomato sauce variety so dinner isn't exactly the same thing week after week.

I use a whole wheat pizza crust. Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I use pizza crust from the grocery store depending on time. I still haven't found a great home-made whole wheat pizza crust recipe that never fails so if anyone has a great recipe for that let me know.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This version starts with a base of BBQ Sauce. I prefer Annie Organics BBQ sauce. Spice it with some black pepper and fresh cilantro or parsley. If I don't have the fresh spices I skip it or use a little bit of dry parsley. Lastly, it is topped with a bed of thinly sliced red onion, some shredded left over chicken, and part skim milk cheese.

Taco Pizza

After Taco night I usually have ground turkey or beef mixture left over. I always include diced onions and peppers in my taco spiced meat. By added the veggies I reduce the amount of meat and add tons of flavor. I always freeze this and use it to make a quick quesadilla or Taco Pizza.

Taco Pizza starts with a base of refried beans. On top of the beans I put the taco spiced ground meat, onion, and pepper mixture (thawed if frozen). I spice the pizza with fresh cilantro if available and fresh ground pepper. Again, I use part-skim cheese. After the pizza comes out I top it with diced Roma tomatoes and chopped lettuce.

Cook according to the crust instructions. Usually around 425 F for 10 to 20 minutes.