Pizza

This past weekend I took a long weekend to go visit one of my friends from high school down in Georgia. It was a weekend full of good times and good food!

On my trip back North, I stopped in Charlotte North Carolina at a Trader Joe’s to pick up a few items. I do not have a Trader Joe’s near me at school, so I went a little overboard. One of the products that they were highlighting in their monthly flyer was their new pizza crust, so I decided to give it a try.

For my pizza I used:

• Trader Joe’s Pizza Crust
• Red Pizza Sauce
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Italian seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Mozzarella cheese

I do not like to cook my pizza directly on the oven rack because I find it makes too much of a mess. Instead, I line a large cookie sheet with either aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray it with some cooking spray.

I placed the crust on the cookie sheet and lightly coated the crust with olive oil. This helped make the crust a little softer. After that, I sprinkled both Italian seasoning and garlic powder all over, getting close to the edges. Oregano can also be added if it is a spice that you have on hand.

I enjoy the taste of garlic, so I added fresh minced garlic as well with a heavy layer of pizza sauce. There are some sauces that say they come with garlic, but the fresh garlic always tastes better. After the layer of sauce, all that was left was to add the cheese. Of course, any additional toppings can be added, but I wanted to go plain this time.

The instructions on the crust said to preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Baking at this temperature only required the pizza to bake for about seven minutes before the cheese was perfectly melted and toasted.

Buying premade crust is a great way to make a custom pizza without it taking a very long time to make or being too difficult. It can become tedious to make the crust and let it rise for several hours before even being able to put everything together. Many grocery stores offer this as an option. It also tends to be a healthier option than the pre-made pizzas from the frozen aisle.

I hope you give this recipe a try! And don’t forget to make it your own!