Quick and easy pizza

Everyone loves pizza and if you want to make a quick and simple pizza at home there are several ways to do it. First you have to decide how involved you want to get in making the crust. You can make your own if you have a few hours. If you are pressed for time then you can pick up a bag of pizza dough at the supermarket or you can buy frozen bread dough. With the frozen bread dough you need to plan ahead at least a day.

It needs to thaw and rise. If you have no time then pick up a Boboli at the store and build your own pizza from there.

A family favorite at my house is a Hawaiian pizza. It is what is commonly referred to as a white pizza. What that means is that it is constructed without a layer of tomato sauce. What you will do is pour some extra virgin olive oil on the crust. Make several circles on the crust with the olive oil, right along the edge of the crust. Use a pastry brush and spread the oil over the entire crust.

Place 10 slices of bacon on a piece of paper towel, cover with another sheet and cook according to package directions, about 5 minutes in the microwave. Open a small can of chunk pineapple and drain. Cut each slice of bacon into four pieces spread on the pizza crust. Place the pieces of pineapple around the crust. Take one package of Italian blended shredded cheese and sprinkle over the top of the pineapple and bacon.

Preheat the over to 400 degrees. Move the rack to the top position. Place your stone in the oven and allow it to get warm. Move the pizza onto the stone. Cook for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden underneath and the cheese is melted.

There is something decadent about the combination of salt and sweet that you get from a pizza covered with pineapple and bacon. If the combination sounds weird to you that's okay try it anyway, you never know, you may be the latest convert. If you don't have any bacon you can use ham, the taste is slightly different but the sweet salty components are still very evident.

Another white pizza that is a favorite at our house is BBQ chicken. You can pick up the precooked fajita chicken and that will work great with this recipe. You will also need a jar of BBQ sauce, use whatever is your favorite, I like Masterpiece.

Place the chicken into a large bowl and pour one cup of the BBQ sauce over it and mix well. Prepare the crust in the same way as you would for the Hawaiian pizza. Place the chicken on the prepared crust and then cover with 1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. Place on a stone in the oven on the top level of the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

This is one of the most delicious pizzas you will ever eat. Make sure that you have plenty of napkins available to wipe the BBQ sauce off of your chin. It is a little messy to eat but the mess is worth it. If you want to have the sensation of eating ribs on a pizza trying using pulled pork instead of the chicken. There is only one word to describe it, awesome.

Please forgive me for not having my own photos for this post.