Normal Pizza, Fast and Quick

Start of a month long update. First up, we have some really quick pizza. Now I know everyone loves fresh pizza but who has the time to make pizza dough and sauce from scratch?? If you do that is great. I love making pizza from scratch when I have the time, but most often when you get back after a long day you want something quick and satisfying. So here is a pizza with premade crust and premade sauce that you can make within about 30 minutes. Oh and you can embellish it in any way you wish, as you don't have to add exactly what I put on my pizza.

Ingredients:
1 premade pizza crust (again I like Bobali)
1 packet/jar of premade sauce maybe the equivalent of about 1/2-3/4 a cup. (This time I tried Trader Joe's pizza sauce and it was the best I've had. If you know my best friend Ashlee and I, it is good enough to eat straight out of the jar.)
A few handfuls of mozzarella cheese
1 chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 sausages (can be cooked or uncooked)
1 onion
a bunch of jalapenos

I also like to add sun dried tomatoes when I have them.

Now I didn't take that many pictures so bare with me. I will try to explain to the best of my abilities.

First, take your chicken breast and cut it into bite size pieces. So to do this you want to make sure you have a sharp knife first of all because it makes cutting a slippery piece of meat much easier. Then I usually like to cut horizontally on the chicken, so my knife is parallel to the short side of the chicken. I like to start with the skinner end of the chicken and then do about a half inch slice. For when I am just cooking regular food I usually do about 1/2 inch by 1 inch pieces (the height would be however thick the chicken is for that piece), but for chicken I usually try to do about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch since it is easier to eat that way. You don't want to have this giant piece of chicken you cant get in your mouth when you are eating your pizza now do you. After you slice your chicken place it in a skillet (preferably non-stick, if not make sure you stir/move the chicken around more often otherwise it will get stuck). Then salt and pepper your chicken, so about 4-5 grinds of the pepper shaker per side (so the top then move the chicken around and call the next side the bottom), and then about 1/4 teaspoon of salt (do the top bottom thing I described with the pepper with the salt as well).

While the chicken is cooking cut up your onion in to strips. Explanations in previous posts. Once your chicken is done cooking, it will be opaque and no longer giggly. And yes that sounds like the most horrible explanation ever but basically it will look like you want to eat it and not be pink or clearish any more.

If you choose to make sausage as well cook it in the skillet with the chicken. I usually get uncooked turkey Italian sausage so it will be no longer opaque and giggly like the chicken when it is done.

Then take the chicken out of a skillet and put it in a bowl. Try to leave as much of the chicken juices in the pan as possible. Then toss in the onions and cook them until they are starting to get soft.

Finally start assembling your pizza. Slather on your sauce for starters. Now ever since I was a little girl my bestest friend from first grade (Ashlee) and I have always loved sauce, so we put a whole bunch of it on meaning there should be a thin layer over the whole pizza to the point where you cant see the crust through the sauce. However in a realistic world not everyone likes that amount of sauce, so as a safe bet I would say to start with no more than 1/4 cup of sauce and see how you feel. It is really an eyeball sort of thing because you may or may not be a sauce person and when you see the sauce on the pizza you will just know "I want that much sauce!"

Then sprinkle some cheese. Do maybe 1/4 cup of that too. For this part you still want to be able to see the sauce under the cheese, not like giant gaps but maybe little lady bug sized holes between the cheese. The purpose for this is that you will put the rest of your cheese on top because then it holds everything on your pizza. Cheese = glue for a pizza.

Then add your chicken, sausage if using, and onions. Spread them out evenly of course unless you have some one who is picky then don't put them on the part that person will eat. Lastly add your jalapenos and then the rest of your cheese.

Pop the pizza in the oven for typically about 8 or 9 minutes to start. If the crust is starting to get nice and brown and hard lift up the pizza slightly with a knife or something because you don't want it to be super saggy in the middle. If the pizza lifts mostly with the knife rather than trying to sag back down, then your pizza is done. If not leave it in for another minute or two.

Take out your pizza, let it cool for a couple minutes, slice, and then serve!

Photos coming soon, but more importantly I got to get a Kung Pao Chicken recipe typed for my starving brother. :)