Braided Pizza Bread

You find wonderful ideas on the Internet. I came across this via ljc's pinterest and thought, why didn't I think of that? It worked out bc I had already planned to make pizza bread this week, but instead of normally just rolling up the dough like I usually would, I thought I'd try out this braided version. It does make it quite prettier and I like how the ingredients are sort of oozing out, teasing your taste buds ;) Pizza bread is a cinch to make. Just takes some Pillsbury pizza dough, pizza/tomato sauce, and whatever toppings your fam is into. Are you on Pinterest? Find me...lets share :)

Chicken Pesto Pizza

This is one of my favorite meals to make when I don't have much time. Its yummy and fast and healthy to boot! It is based off of this recipe on Allrecipes.com, except I added sliced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and mozzarella.


What I like to do is buy the family packs of chicken breast while they are on sale. I bake half for dinner that night and the other half I bake so that I can shred it up to use throughout the week.

Ingredients:
pizza dough; pre-made or not its up to you
package of Pesto mix
Italian Seasoning (optional)
shredded cheese of your choice
1 large tomato (sliced)
1 jar of artichoke hearts (drained)
2-3 boneless chicken breast shredded
1/4 cup of water

First prepare the pesto sauce. You won't need the whole package, not even half the package. I use about 1/4 the amount of mix and use the rest for *veggie dip. Combine with water and a dab of olive oil...about 1 tbsp in a saucepan until heated through.

Next, arrange pizza dough on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Once the pesto is mixed and heated through, brush on pizza dough, make sure the pesto mixture is not too watery. Next layer on shredded chicken, artichoke hearts, and sliced tomatoes. (In my pic my artichokes are pictured on top, thats only bc I forgot to add them sooner hah. Make sure you layer them under everything, they are less likely to fall off the pizza that way.) Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Top of with shredded cheese. I used mozzarella. Since the chicken is already cooked you are just popping it into the oven to bake the dough and melt the cheese. Follow the directions on the dough packaging for cook time. If using a premade dough, bake until cheese has melted. Also, make sure not to overcook the chicken or it will dry out. And that's it! Happy eating!


*Veggie Dip recipe:
combine remaining pesto mix with 1 cup mayo and 1 cup sour cream, mix and refrigerate.