Cooking | still being [Molly]

Okay, this recipe is totally stolen from my sister… it’s AMAZING.

Last Memorial Day John and I went to hang out with my sister, brother-in-law, and my adorbs nephew for the day and my sister said she was making pizza. Now, when I thought she was making pizza, I didn’t realize she was making HEAVEN ON DOUGH.

This pizza is amazing. There are not enough mmmm’s in yum to describe it. And it’s SO easy.

You’ll need the Rustic Rub and Pizza Sauce recipe to make this pizza. You can find those recipes here.

Enough rambling.

Here’s the recipe:

Rustic Rubbed Chicken & Banana Pepper Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough (I used the $0.99 dough from Trader Joe’s)
Homemade Pizza Sauce (or sauce from a jar if you’re lazy )
Boneless, Skinless chicken breasts (1-2, depending on how much chicken you want)

TO DO AHEAD OF TIME (aka: prior to making the pizza!):

DRIZZLE CHICKEN WITH OLIVE OIL, RUB WITH RUSTIC RUB, AND GRILL OR COOK ON STOVE TOP, THEN SHRED CHICKEN WHEN COOL ENOUGH TO HANDLE

Banana Peppers (pickled, in the jar)
Shredded Cheese (I used shredded Monterrey and Colby Jack – but Mozzarella is good too!)
Cornmeal

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Whatever dough you decide to use doesn’t matter, this process will be the same.

1. Sprinkle cornmeal on the counter and rub some on a rolling pin. Put the dough on the counter and sprinkle that with cornmeal too. Roll the dough out to the size you want. If the dough is really cold this may take a little while because it won’t be as elastic. It helps to pull the dough out about 10 minutes before you roll it.

2. If you are using a pizza stone, sprinkle with cornmeal and put the rolled out dough on it. If you are using a cookie sheet or sheet pan, spray the pan with nonstick spray and lay the dough on it.

3. Add pizza sauce to the dough.

4. Spread with desired amount of chicken and banana peppers and then sprinkle with cheese.

5. Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy a DELICIOUS pizza!

THE GRILL OPTION: Yes, you can make this pizza on a GRILL!

1. Heat the grill to a medium, indirect, heat.

2. Roll the dough out as explained before but DO NOT put any sauce or toppings on it yet. Instead, brush one side with olive oil (or a canola or vegetable oil if you don’t have olive).

3. Put the dough, oiled side down, on the grill. Brush the other side with oil. Cover the grill and wait 5-6 minutes.

4. This part goes pretty fast, so have everything ready. Flip the dough (you’re probably going to need tongs or a spatula or both). Immediately top with the sauce, chicken, banana peppers, and cheese. Cover the grill and wait another 4-5 minutes. You are basically ready when the cheese has melted!

That’s it! Easy peasy!

What do you think? Tell me if you make this!

Sometimes, when I wanna make dinner, but I’m kinda feeling lazy / kinda feeling fat / kinda wanting to eat healthy / kinda wanting a cop-out dinner that looks difficult but isn’t… I make a “stir-fry“.

Honestly, this is the best way to rid yourself of the leftover frozen veggies (or regular veggies before they go bad), or that extra meat you have in the fridge (or freezer).

So, you’re basically killing like, three birds with one stone. One bird being your “I’m hungry” bird, another bird being the “I need to get rid of these leftover veggies and meats” bird, and your “I want X person to think I slaved over dinner tonight, but really didn’t” bird.

This, is that meal.

You can really adapt this however you like, but here’s what I did for this particular diddy.

Ingredients:

Olive oil (for pan)
1 – 1+1/2 cups of broccoli (fresh or frozen… don’t matter)
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced / cut however you prefer
1/2 cup frozen lima beans (yeah, lima beans)
1/2 cup frozen peas (yeah, peas)
1 – 1+1/2 cups of corn kernels (frozen is best)
1/2 red onion diced
1-2 chicken breasts (cooked or uncooked)
1/2 lb. of cooked, frozen, deveined, tail-off shrimp
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. sesame seed oil
1/4 tsp. honey (optional)
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
Salt + Pepper (to taste)
Soy sauce (to taste) (I use Trader Joe’s reduced sodium soy sauce and LOVE it)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine cubed cut, uncooked, chicken and shrimp with soy-sauce and red pepper flakes. Remember, there’s no science to this part – it’s really up to your taste. Make sure the meat is totally covered in the sauces. I let the meats marinate for about 10 minutes while I cut up my veggies.

Toss the meat combo with a little olive oil in a large skillet until the chicken is cooked 90-95% of the way through. Same for your shrimp.

I also, typically, season the meat some more while I’m cooking it – garlic, a little more red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper are my go-to seasonings.

Once you’ve got your meat mostly cooked, combine all your veggies in the large skillet with your spices. Adding soy sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic to taste as you go along.

Stir until the meat is cooked all the way through and your veggies are good, marinated, and hot!

Serve!

Voila! That’s it.

Seriously. Super easy.

Now, I use a ton of veggies in mine cause I like to throw ‘em in there. Nothing HAS to be in the stir-fry (except the spices… the spices and soy sauce are pretty important).

So yummy. So healthy. And makes awesome leftovers… especially after it’s had a chance to sit and marinate overnight. YUM.

Comment below if you’ve made this or something similar!

xoxo, All for now.