Ricotta, Basil, and Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza

Eric needs to have pizza for dinner at least once a week--frozen pizza, Hungry Howie's pizza (with garlic butter and Cajun crust), Little Caesar's Hot and Ready pizza, homemade pizza, it doesn't matter. If he had his way, we'd eat it almost every night, only punctuated with orange chicken from Panda Express. I, on the other hand, would be happy with pizza just once a month. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza, but it's not so kind to the waistline. Eric possesses a metabolism that would make a supermodel jealous. I, however, certainly do not, especially not now that I'm in my 30s. This is why I like homemade pizza best. Half the pizza can be mozzarella, tomato sauce and pepperoni and the other half can be ricotta, basil and sun-dried tomatoes!

The old versus the old:

Eric is a pizza traditionalist--mozzarella , pepperonis and that's it. I like mixing things up.

Ingredients:

1 package Jiffy pizza dough mix (you could also use a pre-made crust)
3-4 gloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
(I use my own homemade sun-dried tomatoes)
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
½ cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
5-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
½ cup red onions, sliced

Directions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 12-inch pizza pan.

Prepare Jiffy mix. In a medium bowl, add pizza dough mix and ½ cup hot tap water. Stir until well combined. Cover with a towel and let set for five minutes in a warm place. Knead the dough several times on a floured board. Grease your fingers and press dough on the bottom and sides of your pan. Bake dough for 2 to 3 minutes before adding toppings. 

Mix ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan together in a bowl; set aside. 

Scatter your garlic and sun-dried tomatoes evenly across the crust. Spread the cheese mixture over top (if you put your sun-dried tomatoes on top of the cheese, they’ll burn). Sprinkle basil leaves and red onions over the top of the pizza. Cook for 18 to 20 minutes or until the crust turn a golden brown.

Enjoy!

~Krissy