Friday Night Bites: Easy Homemade Pizza

Some nights, especially Fridays I purposely plan for an easy meal using a mix of pre-made and fresh ingredients. One particular Friday, it was just me and the 4 year-old at home because my husband was out and I had "homemade pizza" on the menu (not to be confused with when I put "pizza" on the menu meaning we are hitting our favorite local pizzeria!). My son, like most little kids does love pizza, but it's all cheese or nothing at this point in his preschooler existence. So what's a mom to do? Do what they do at the pizzeria...make it a partial pizza!

I had some store bought tomato sauce on hand as well as pizza dough from my grocer's deli section. I also had al fresco chicken sausages on hand (as I do a lot I suppose), this time the roasted pepper and asiago flavor. the great thing for me with those sausages is that they are precooked and super easy to slice. I also had some grape tomatoes on hand and finished everything with some sprinkled Italian seasoning:

Notice I left about a quarter of the pizza "plain" just for my little guy! Topped with cheese and baked int he oven at 475 degrees for 10-15 minutes and the result:

I have always used the wheat pizza dough and really like the taste and texture. The only change it really needs is the use of a pizza stone or pan. I try and mitigate the soft bottom crust issue by baking my pizza first on my cookie sheet and then removing it and finish baking it directly on the oven rack. Then the next logical step is for me to start making my own dough....which is something I am working up to and can't wait to share!