homemade chicken & spinach alfredo pizza

As far as extremely delicious and slightly healthy meals go, we found a definite winner in the Alsbury household! I got the idea from Lauren's Kitchen, used a homemade pizza crust from Money Saving Mom, and made a homemade alfredo sauce from Tammy's Recipes. Yes, I love blogs.

This recipe caused Bryan to say, "This is greatest thing I've ever tasted," for the second night in a row! (the first being when I whipped up some Grilled Panini's)


For the crust:

• 1 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast
• 1 cup Warm Water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
• 2 1/2 cups Flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add remaining ingredients in and mix. Dump onto a floured surface. Knead into a smooth dough. Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.

For the sauce:

• 3 Tbsp. Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Dried Basil
• 1/4 tsp. Parsley
• 2 1/2 cup Milk
• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. Oil
• 8 oz Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, all spices and 1 cup of milk. Set aside. Cube the block of cream cheese. Set aside. In a large saute pan, saute the garlic and onion in the oil. When the onions are translucent, stir in 1 1/2 cups milk and bring to a boil. Gradually pour the flour mixture into the hot skillet. Heat until thick and bubbly. Reduce heat, add the cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Stir until smooth.

*Note: This batch of alfredo sauce will make at least enough for two whole pizzas. Just store in the refrigerator and use on pasta later! Or better yet, see my time saving tip at the bottom!

For the Pizza:

• 1 cup Chicken, cooked & cubed
• 1 cup (or desired) fresh Baby Spinach leaves
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Red Onion Slices
• 2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
  

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Pour warm alfredo sauce onto prepared crust, spread evenly to edges. Add toppings in the following order: spinach leaves, chicken, cheese, onion slices, italian seasoning. Bake on center rack for 12-13 minutes

Time-Saving Tip:
Admittedly, this took me about and hour and a half to make everything from scratch, but it was so worth it!

To save a little energy later in the month, I made two pizza's at the same time. It added nothing to my prep time. As I noted above, the sauce is more then enough to cover two pizzas, and doubling the crust is really simple.

I prepared the second pizza on tin foil (as opposed to directly on the pan) and stuck the pizza on a pan in my freezer for two hours. Then, I removed the pan, covered the pizza completely with saran wrap and replaced it in my freezer for whenever we feel like eating it again.