Goat Cheese Arugula Pizza

I just HAD to add another pizza recipe because this recipe was so good and it used pesto as the sauce, which is such a delicious change of pace from a typical marinara pizza sauce.

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com, but I added some things to it that I think made it better. One thing: arugula is a bitter leaf, and at the last minute, I chickened out and used half arugula and half spinach. This tasted wonderfully, but the bitterness of arugula leaves actually blends perfectly with goat cheese, so if you are okay with it, I highly recommend using arugula. That's what I will be doing in the future.

What I love: The fresh veggies, pesto, and goat cheese made the most heavenly combination. YUM!

Ingredients:
*Pizza crust (your choice: I use Jiffy)
*6-8 tbsp. pesto (see my recipe if interested)
*3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
*5-7 oz. goat cheese, big globs of it
*1 cup of arugula leaves, chopped (or spinach, or mixture, etc.)
*4-6 mushrooms, diced
*1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or diced
*1/4 - 1/2 cup of mozzarella shredded cheese, optional
*parmesan, optional

Directions:
1) Make Pizza crust according to directions.
2) Add pesto sauce and cover bottom of pizza crust.
3) Add the toppings: tomatoes, goat cheese, mushrooms, garlic, moz. cheese (optional) and parmesan (optional)
4) Bake pizza according to directions on the box, but take it out 1-2 minutes before it is done. Add the arugula. Bake until complete.
5) Enjoy!

Comments:
*The bigger the globs of goat cheese, the better tasting the pizza! I actually tried to slice the goat cheese, which is difficult due to its' soft texture, but the resulting globs were big and I put those on the pizza. The goat cheese globs mix so well with the arugula and pesto tastes....

*I added a tiny amount of moz. cheese to make my pizza have that melted-cheese look. If you don't care about appearances, then you probably don't need the moz. cheese added.

*Add the arugula later in the pizza process to avoid a burned-arugula taste.

*Here's another picture of heavenly pizza!

Homemade Pizza

Sometimes, when I go to the grocery store, I wonder if the frozen pizza selections have improved since I last looked. Perhaps it's just because I am fussy about my pizza toppings (I do not like pepperoni or sausage), but I have always found frozen pizza options as so disappointing. They are so boring; so expensive; or something is wrong with it (yucky thin crust with good toppings; half good toppings and half yucky ones; etc.)

I always get disgruntled with the frozen pizza options in the end and make homemade pizza instead. It's healthier (you know what's in it!), it's more fun, it's creative, and the list goes on. I often find it is a nice, simple, yet romantic date to make a pizza with Paul. We choose our favorite toppings and he chops the toppings while I make the dough. It's great fun!

While making this particular pizza at home, I thought it would be good to write down the ingredients so that I can remember it for the future, and figured, I may as well give these brilliant pizza ideas to my readers and friends while I am at it! :)

This particular pizza includes:
*Jiffy pizza dough (my favorite due to its price, taste, and simplicity
*spaghetti sauce with onion and garlic
*chopped spinach (handful)
*1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
*4 mushrooms, sliced
*4 leaves of basil (from my garden!), sliced
*clumps of goat cheese (1/3 a package: I roll bits into small balls and plop as much as possible on there!)
*mozzarella cheese

This pizza is SO good! I love all of these toppings and my stomach is happy with me afterwards. Yum!

While I am at it, here's another favorite homemade pizza that Paul and I adore. We ate a similar pizza at our favorite pizza restaurant, and now we make it at home with some variation:

*Jiffy pizza dough
*spicy bbq sauce
*1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
*chicken (rotisserie chicken, you are my friend once again!)
*jalapeno slices
*red onion, chopped
*cheddar cheese
*4 mushrooms, sliced (sometimes we do not include these)

I love how this pizza is unique and spicy! Yum yum...

What about you? What are YOUR favorite pizza toppings? Please share if you can, because I love getting new ideas! :)

Here's that pizza picture close up to make you crave pizza right now. :)