BBQ Chicken Pizza

Nearly 12 years ago, my mom forced me to go into a little pizza restaurant in our hometown and fill out a job application.  Papa Murphy's...maybe you have heard of it...?  I begrudgingly did so, swearing that I would only work there for a few weeks, just until I found my dream job at somewhere more glamorous like...the mall.  Well guess what?!  That little job that I was keeping only to pacify my mom's desire for me to not be a lazy bum all summer...became a huge part of my life.  One in which, I officially finished today!!!  That is right...just short of 12 years!  I can't believe I even just said that!  I started working there the summer before my senior year and found, after only a few short months, that I not only loved the people I worked with, but that the owners of the company were marvelous!  I was an assistant manager and then a store manager for several years during college, and left the position just after my first baby turned one.  Then they offered me an incredible opportunity to work for them from my home, out of state, watching their security cameras weekly.  So that is what I have been doing for them the past 4 years, and it has been an incredible blessing to make a small income while my husband went to dental school. But since he is graduating next week and finally getting started on his career, I thought it was finally time to cut ties and focus on other things!  But I will always be thankful for that job!  

Since this seems like the ending of an era to me, I thought I'd go out by posting a re-creation of one of my favorite pizzas from Papa Murphy's...the BBQ Chicken.  You would think after so many years of working in one place, I would abhor the food.  But it is actually quite the opposite.  Papa Murphy's is still one of my favorite places to get pizza and I especially love their specialty pizzas.  They don't always carry the BBQ chicken, and in fact, not all stores even get it.  This past weekend, I had a sudden craving for it and decided to create my own version.  It was really yummy!  If you like BBQ sauce, then I think you will love this!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

*You can use whatever pizza dough recipe that you would like.  I like this one because it is easy and requires no rising.  I use it all the time when I need a quick dinner idea and it tastes great.  If making dough isn't your thing, purchase a ready made crust from the store and use it instead.

Fast and Easy Pizza Dough

3 cups flour, more or less
1 Tablespoon honey, heaping
1 Tablespoon oil, heaping
1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Topping

1-1/2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken
2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
1/2 cup 3 Tablespoons your favorite BBQ sauce, divided
2 green onions, chopped
1 roma tomato, chopped


Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  If you are using a pizza stone, let the stone heat for at least 30 minutes in the oven before baking.

Mix all pizza dough ingredients together, except the flour.  Add the flour and knead for several minutes, then put into pan, pizza peel or pizza stone.

Combine the chicken and 1/4 cup BBQ sauce and mix until the chicken is covered.  Spread the remaining 1/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons BBQ sauce over the pizza dough.  Sprinkle about 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese over the sauce.  Sprinkle the chicken mixture over the mozzarella cheese.  Sprinkle the green onions and tomato on top.  Then cover with the rest of the mozzarella.

If baking in a sheet pan, bake for 12 minutes (checking often) until crust is browned and cheese is golden and bubbly.  If baking on the preheated pizza stone, slide pizza onto the stone and bake for about 8 minutes.  Makes 1 large pizza.

Recipe Source:  The Unsophisticated Kitchen using the pizza dough recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

I like to link up at these great parties!

Caramel Apple Pizza

Let's talk favorites here for a minute.  Have you ever been to a favorite things party?  Tonight I attended my second one ever.  They are great.  Let me tell you about them just in case you haven't been.  Each party-goer picks something that is their favorite, then purchases 5 of that item.  Our limit tonight was $5, but it could be set either higher or lower.  Then each person puts their name into a box 5 times.  The box is passed around the room to each person and when it arrives in your lap, you explain a little about your favorite item, draw out 5 names and hand over your favorite thing to each of those 5 people.  So each person leaves the party with 5 different things!  So fun!  I left with some real treasures tonight!  If you haven't been to one of these parties, you should totally throw one yourself.  They are a blast!  So I took some fun Ikea kitchen tools as my favorite items tonight.  But another favorite that I have is pizza.  Even after working at 2 different pizza restaurants for a combined total of nearly a decade, I could still eat it just about everyday!  I have another favorite...sugary sweets.  I am truly a sucker for anything packed with sugar.  This caramel apple pizza, though not your traditional pizza, fits the bill for both of my favorites.  Its a little twist on a classic favorite.  I made this for the favorite things party tonight.  You should make it for yours...that I know you are going to throw...because by now I have convinced you of how fun they are and you are dying to do it...right?!

Caramel Apple Pizza

*If you are like me and do not keep pastry flour around the house, fear not, you can easily substitute all purpose flour.  Just place 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a 1-cup measuring cup.  Fill the rest with all purpose flour.  Sift the mixture into a bowl or onto a plate and then take your 1 cup of flour from that. That simply replaces the 1-cup whole wheat pastry flour, so make sure you still add the 3/4 cup all purpose flour as well, giving you a grand total of 1-3/4 cup flour.  Also, as I was taking this to a party I wanted to make sure my apples didn't turn brown.  There are a variety of ways to stop that from happening, but I just soaked mine in some lemon water and that worked perfectly.

Crust

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping

1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 medium granny smith apples, thinly sliced

1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 140-inch pizza pan.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg, oil, corn syrup and vanilla.  In a medium size bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Press dough onto a the pizza pan.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on a wire rack.  In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth.  Spread over crust.  Arrange apples over the top.  Drizzle with caramel topping and sprinkle with peanuts.  Serve immediately.

Recipe Source:  Taste of Home Appetizers

I'm linking up at these parties!  Go check them out!