De-lish-ish-ness!!

Long day? Tired from work? Forgot to marinate chicken? Don't want to spend an hour and a half cooking on a Tuesday? May I recommend....

White Pizza with Tomato and Basil



I'll have to give the credit to Cooking Light. I didn't come up with this one on my own. But I did try it and it was super easy and yummy.

And yes, I am that good of a cook that I made the pizza look scrumptious and very camera ready. Kidding. I forgot to take a picture and honestly didn't know if it would be any good or blog worthy. So, that's the picture of the picture from the magazine. Mine did look similar to that though since I used a pre-made pizza crust.

So, here we go.

1 (10-ounce) Italian cheese-flavored thin pizza crust (such as Boboli) *Note: My Walmart is very selective with variety so they don't carry Italian flavored. I used the regular one and it was just fine.
1 Teaspoon cornmeal *Note: I eliminated this because I felt it was an unnecessary expense for 1 teaspoon, but feel free if you have some. I used a pizza stone and it did not stick.
Cooking Spray
3 Tablespoons refrigerated pesto with basil *Note: See photo below. I am pretty sure this is what made my pizza so good.
1/2 Cup (2 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese *Note: I used packaged pre-shredded
1/2 Cup Part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 Cup sliced small tomatoes *Note: I used Roma tomatoes.
1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
1/2 Cup small basil leaves *Note: I eliminated this because my basil plant is at work and have you seen the prices for fresh basil at the store?!
Crushed red pepper (Optional)

1. Preheat broiler to high.
2. Place a baking sheet in oven; heat for 10 minutes.
3. While baking sheet heats, place crust on another baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Lightly coat crust with cooking spray. Spread pesto evenly over crust, leaving a 1-inch border; sprinkle mozzarella evenly over the pesto. Dollop ricotta, by teaspoonfuls, evenly over mozzarella. Slide crust onto preheated baking sheet, using a spatula as as guide. Broil 5 inches from heat for 5 minutes or until cheese begins to melt. Remove from oven; top evenly with tomatoes, black pepper, and basil. Sprinkle with red pepper, if desired. Cut into 8 slices. Yields: 4 Servings (serving size: 2 slices)

And the best part, only 352 calories for two slices! Not bad, huh?

As for the pesto, I used Classico (below). It was $2 at Walmart and delish. Heavy on the garlic flavor more so that the basil. Yum yum yum. And I'm going to stir a few tablespoons of the leftover pesto into pasta for lunch tomorrow.