Day 13: Chicken & Spinach Alfredo Pizza

I'm starting to realize just how much of my food is actually inspired by my husband.  As someone who loves to cook, it's wonderful being married to someone who loves to eat!  This is another recipe I saw on TV or somewhere one time and thought, "Randy would LOVE that."  And he sure does!

It takes practice to make a good alfredo sauce, I find.  But once you understand how it all comes together, and the timing of it in your own kitchen, it's not hard at all!

I also make my own pizza dough from time to time.  It's cheap, and my recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas, so I freeze half of the dough for another pizza later.  But I also love Pillsbury pizza dough for it's convenience.  It also tastes great!

Chicken & Spinach Alfredo Pizza ("White Pizza")

pizza dough
olive oil & garlic powder
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TB butter
1 TB flour
red pepper flakes
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 chicken breasts, cooked & chopped
fresh spinach
grape tomatoes, halved (if you have the time, it helps to par-boil the tomatoes and peel off the skin, but it's not a necessary step)
mozzarella cheese

Heat the oven to 425*.  Roll out the pizza dough on a stone pan.  Mix the oil and garlic powder and spread on the dough.  Bake in the oven about 6-8 minutes.  While the dough of baking, make the alfredo sauce.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook until fragrant.  Add the flour (the more flour, the thicker the sauce) and cook down until dark blonde in color. (about 1-2 minutes)  Add the heavy cream.  Increase the heat so the sauce bubbles, stirring constantly, then immediately reduce the heat to low.  The sauce should be thickened by now.  Add the parmesan cheese and stir to combine.  Top the pizza dough with the sauce, then the chicken, spinach, tomatoes, and grated mozzarella cheese.  Reduce the oven to 375* and bake the pizza for about 20 minutes.

Pizza Dough
2 pkgs yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 cups warm water (110*)
2 TB kosher salt
6 cups flour
2 TB olive oil

Combine the yeast, sugar, and water, and let stand about 5-10 minutes.  Stir in the salt and olive oil and begin mixing in the flour.  When it becomes too stiff to stir with a spoon, knead in the rest of the flour by hand, adding just enough flour so the dough isn't too sticky.  Form the dough into a round ant put into a lightly oiled bowl, turning it to coat the dough with oil.  Cover and let rise about 1 hour, or until double in size.