Saturday, February 21, 2015

Gourmet Pizza with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, Feta, Artichoke Hearts


Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a fun pizza recipe that takes a lot of odd ingredients you probably don't have in the pantry but it's WORTH the splurge, especially if you can't get to the next town where an actual pizza parlor is! We don't have any bad weather here at all, but as usual, it takes an act of Congress to get us out to a restaurant. So, sometimes it's just easier to recreate that delicious pizza we're craving at home!

 Now, this might be diet pizza. I have no idea. It has thin crust so maybe that counts for something, but if we're looking at fat and calories, this is NOT pizza that will make you skinny. (Of course, I'm not sure there is a pizza that fits that description.)

You'll need:
thin and crisp pizza crust (or make your own)
baby spinach
feta cheese
sun dried tomatoes
artichoke hearts
white pizza sauce (I usually make my own but I saw this one on sale and decided to try it)
mozzarella cheese
 We love this little pizza recipe book. We've used a lot of great ideas from it like...
 Artichoke and Tomato Focaccia. I love focaccia. If I could see in my chest, I think my heart would be made out of focaccia. But the kids don't, so we usually do regular pizza crust.
 This one I tried and loved but again... not a hit with the little people, so there was also a big cheese pizza on the table.
 I never took a photo of this when I made it. I think my thought process was something like, "FOOD! EAT FOOD." But, here's the picture from the recipe book.

 So, for this pizza, prewarm the oven to 425F. Spread on the white pizza sauce. (Note, I wasn't a real fan of this. It seemed too sour for a garlic sauce. I like my white sauces sort of Alfredo-y.)
 Sun dried tomatoes, chopped and drained.
 MMMMM... Artichoke hearts, in brine. I want to eat the bowl of them.
 Layer the spinach on the pizza.
 You don't have to be so geometric but hey, we were all talking and I think we were doing more talking than cooking so the fact I took fifteen minutes to put on spinach leaves didn't seem to matter.
 Layer on a bit of mozzarella. Add the sun dried tomatoes.
 I didn't cut the artichoke hearts because hubby is not a fan. The bigger they are, the easier they are to pick off.
 Drain and crumble the feta. (My life has gone sideways!)
 Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until the edges are very crispy.
Ta-dah! With a salad on the side and some fresh veggies, I was a happy camper and I didn't even have to put on nice clothes and drive across the state line!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and a prayerful Lent!

12 comments:

  1. Now that is a work of art! Peace be with you this Lenten season too!

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  2. Wait --- white pizza sauce? I've never heard of that....it sounds...wrong. But looks delicious so I may have to get adventurous. And a whole cookbook of pizza recipes? Awesome. I have one of just grilled cheese recipes. Amazing.

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    1. MMMM, nothing better than home made pizza! And since I have a child who is obsessed with bread making, it doesn't take much to get a batch of pizza dough.
      And I love white pizza sauce. It's sort of like the difference between alfredo sauce and marinara. Sometimes the toppings need a white sauce, sometimes a red. I like spinach and artichoke hearts with a white sauce because it cuts down on the acid. But this canned sauce was a little sour.

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  3. Oh, this is a combination made in heaven, Mary Virginia! I love white sauce pizza... I love artichokes.... I am in danger of having to leave Dave and MARRY sundried tomatoes, and the rest? Simply marvelous.

    Kav, we do lots of white pizzas here. Not here in my house because it's just me and Ol' Dave, but when there's a crowd, and at the pizza parlors white pizza is taking a chunk of the market. Like Ginny, I love the more Alfredo style sauce, and then you can just load it with veggies.

    Or skip the crust altogether, ditch those carbs and put the Alfredo sauce on veggies!!!! Now there's a cool idea for those low-carb months.

    Thank you, MVCM!!!!

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    1. Ditch the crust? LOL. I love you so I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that.

      One we really love is fresh tomatoes, grilled chicken, crumbled bacon, and spinach.. I don't know how all those go together, but they do!

      I think the first white pizza sauce I ever had was at a Greek restaurant in Eugene, OR and I honestly thought it was Greek thing for a while. Nope, they just borrowed it!

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  4. That looks so good!! I'm not crazy about artichoke hearts. Don't dislike them but would probably pull them off and pile them on my husband's slice. :)

    Now I'm craving melted cheese!

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    1. Right! That's what he does. And I want to eat them all, so we're happy.
      I think a happy marriage consists of complimentary food avoidance. lol

      And it's been a long time since I had feta cheese and I thought, "WHY haven't I been eating feta on everything??" I love that stuff.

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  5. I've been AWOL. Sorry. Blech week. But I come back to the cafe to find my favorite. PIZZA. Looks delisih.

    I have dried cranberries and feta in all my salads.

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    1. I love dried cranberries, spinach, feta and walnut on my salads, too! Love that combo.

      Sorry about your week. :( I've had a really productive week, but the week before was pretty much a wash, so I feel your pain.

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  6. How did you know I've been craving GOOD pizza? Pizza that doesn't have chemicals in the sauce. Pizza made with quality cheese and other ingredients. Pizza with green stuff and white stuff and spicy meat on it?

    In case you can't tell, I'm about done with the same-old same-old pizza places. Maybe our next pizza night will be a pizza bar with individual sized crusts and toppings to fit everyone's taste!

    Thanks for the great fresh pizza ideas :)

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  7. Oh this looks divine. I'm wondering if this is the same pizza recipe you posted on FB...the one your girls made. I have had a real craving for pizza lately as well as ramen noodles...have no idea why. I really love home made pizza...my husband is a master at it...and this looks delicious. And call me silly but I never thought of putting artichokes on them.

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