Chicken Pesto Pizza

Summer is wrapping up and that means it was time to prune the basil plants for the last time this year.  I was bummed to learn that my basil won't come back next year.  Temps here don't get too cold, so I thought it might have a chance, but no such luck.  After doing some research, I found that basil won't live in temps under 50 degrees F.  Bummer.  We have predicted lows in the mid 40's this week (yay!), so it was time to remove all the leaves and make some pesto.

I've written about my pesto, and, now that I am looking back, I am embarrassed of the picture of the boxed/store-bought basil!  I will be sure to update that next year. Now that my husband and I have grown basil, I realize how much better it tastes and how expensive store-bought is! I am new to the gardening thing, but I was very impressed and pleased with our basil plants.  They were surprisingly easy to grow and produced a ton of basil.  Anyways.... after pruning all the leaves off my 3 plants, I had 40 cups of basil (yep, not a typo, 40 cups.) (And yes, I did prune them throughout the summer!)  I don't know what all to do with basil, but I love pesto, so I just made a TON of pesto and froze it all in little baggies.  I have no idea if we will be able to eat all of that this winter, but I figured we might as well get started.  I made a chicken pesto pizza that turned out to be delicious!  I have blogged about how much I love pizza in the past, and this is definitely a new favorite for us!  

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (I made mine in the bread machine- do whatever works for you.. a wheat crust is super good!)

2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-size pieces

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp minced fresh garlic

1/3 c. pesto 

2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Roll out/stretch/toss etc. dough onto a pizza pan

2. Spread pesto over dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border for crust

3. Heat skillet, olive oil, and garlic over medium heat.  Add chicken and cook until it is cooked through (no longer pink inside)- about 5 minutes

4. Top pizza with chicken 

5. Spread cheeses over top

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes.