Pizza Sundays are BACK!

Annually we host a BYOT Pizza Christmas Party... and... Prior to parenthood... we had a Sunday evening tradition of creating homemade pizzas... since we still love pizza... and our little guy does too... last night we continued with the tradition... and it did not disappoint.

A little background... The more years I am removed from my time living in Italy... the harder it is for me to stay true to the Italian way of cooking... some for the better and some not... add to that being a full-time working preggers mom of a toddler... and not only am I looking for shortcuts... but I'm out of practice!

So... after buying some pre-made publix pizza dough (b/c it's the best when you don't have time to make your own!)... we made a fabulous pizza last night...

While I LOVE my kitchen... I've been struggling with cooking the pizza on a rack to the right crust consistency... so last night I decided to pre-cook the crust on a perforated non-stick pizza pan... while I sauteed the veggies. DING DING DING... We have a winner!  Literally... you can do this in 30 min flat.

What I used:
Publix Fresh Pizza Dough
EVOO
Pesto
Wright applewood smoked bacon
fresh garlic
spanish onion
baby bellas
Organic Girl baby spinach
Publix Fresh mozzarella (side-note - Publix has great dairy practices... hence they tend to have great dairy products)
Publix Shredded Italian 6 cheese
Feta
S&P to taste
Pizza Pan

Preheat oven to 440 deg F (I use conv bake)

First I prepared the veggies - crushed the garlic, chopped the onions, washed & sliced the baby bellas, then cut up the bacon into small pieces.

Next... spray the pizza pan, roll the dough, and place on pizza pan, baste with a very light coating of EVOO... and sprinkle some garlic powder and salt... place in oven and set timer for 10 min

While the crust is pre-cooking - saute the veggies... get the olive oil, salt, & pepper warm... then add the garlic and onions... saute until the garlic is toasted and the onions relatively translucent... then add the shrooms and bacon.  When fully cooked I like to strain the veggies... mainly b/c the shroom have SO much water... and that just makes for a soggy pizza!

In Parallel... while veggies are sauteing and crust is pre-cooking... slice up the fresh mozzarella into half-moons and rip up some fresh baby spinach.

Next pull the crust out...  and TOP IT!  spread some pesto on the crust (very light and doesn't need to cover entire pizza...). I like to use the back of the spoon to spread the sauce. Was tempted to use no sauce... but had the pesto so thought why not! 

Next comes the sauteed veggies and bacon... I use my hands to do this... I squeeze out the water when I grab a fistful, then spread evenly around the crust.

Then some Italian 6 cheese blend... about 1/3 of a 1 lb bag... then the spinach... I don't go overboard... if my 18m old sees too much green... he'll pull it off... this is also why I place it on the shredded cheese but under the FRESH Mozzarella...

Place the mozzarella evenly around the pizza to not only make each piece taste divine... but look great too. Last... we get shakers of feta from costco... so I shake the heck out of the feta until the pizza is covered... in both mozzarella and feta.

Then throw in the oven for 10 min... and it's done! Literally... this takes 30 min from start to finish... and it is super yummy. It helps my little man LOVES pizza... AND feta... and as long as the shrooms are underneath the cheese, he'll eat them too.

Forgot to get a pic when I pulled it out of the oven... so here's the 1/2 eaten Za...

*another great option would be to throw some tomato slices on top at the end... mmm...