Thursday, June 24, 2010

Simply nutritious chicken pesto pizza


Time for another secret: nutritious pizza.  This is one of the staples at our house and I don't at all feel bad about it.  Before I share the recipe, I need to tell you another secret. This is one that you cannot tell my kids (although I think they're probably on to me by now).  I hide spinach in a lot, and I do mean A LOT, of our meals. Some are more complicated that others; this one is really quite easy. You'll see what I mean when I give you the recipe.  But really, this pizza is good, good for you, and easy to make.

Here's what you need:

1.  Pizza dough (you can buy pre-cooked dough, go to Whole foods or Central Market and get their fresh dough or even use dough in a can).
2.  Pre-made pesto (I use Buitoni).
3.  Shredded chicken (you can use grilled, rotisserie, baked - you can see, anything goes).
4. Spinach

Here's what you do:

1. If you're dough is pre-cooked, skip this step. If you're using raw dough, I like to pre-cook mine at 400 for 6-7 minutes, so it will come out crispy in the end.
2. Combine several hand-fulls of spinach and the pesto in a food processor and puree. It comes out looking just like the pesto, just greener.
3. Spread the spinach/pesto puree on top of your pre-cooked dough.
4. Dice up your chicken and spread a generous amount over the pesto.
5. Top with shredded cheese (sometimes I add thinly sliced tomatoes and red onions to half of it for me and hubby).
6. Bake for 15 minutes (still at 400) or until the edges are brown and the cheese is gooey.

Enjoy!  And, enjoy knowing that your kids are getting a very balanced meal that they think is just "pizza."

3 comments:

  1. Yum! I love spinach. I have a yummy Spinach Corn Bread recipe from Cooking Light. My boys even eat. Can't wait to try this pizza. :)

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  2. Hey Shannon!
    (hoping you recognize my alter ego...)
    Saw on Facebook that you had a blog, so decided to check it out. :)
    What a great idea for a blog--and I'm definitely going to try the pizza...even if I end up being the only one who'll eat it.

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  3. Ooops...logged into the wrong account.
    impressink is me: alyssagoodnight.blogspot.com

    Sorry!

    ReplyDelete