Mangia!

Last night Jim and I had a date night at home since he was out of town on business for most of the week. I decided to make a pesto pizza using basil from our basil plant since it's miraculously still alive!! I topped the pizza with the pesto, artichokes, black olives, hearts of palm and goat cheese. We have quite the love affair with goat cheese in our house and put it on everything possible. Sometimes I wonder if it would be more cost effective to buy a goat...not sure how that would work in the desert though. :) Anyway, the pizza was quite yummy so I thought I'd share the recipe and the best part is that it's super easy!

These are all of the ingredients you'll need

artichoke hearts

goat cheese

black olives (you can also use kalamata olives. I love just plain black olives)

hearts of palm ( I buy these jarred at Trader Joe's)

pizza dough ( I totally cheat and buy the premade pizza dough. I always buy the whole wheat one since it's a bit healthier too.)

garlic

basil

Parmesan cheese

walnuts

olive oil

Pesto recipe

3 cups basil

3 cloves of garlic

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pine nuts. (I used walnuts since we didn't have pine nuts. Walnuts are a bit healthier too and tasted great.)

salt and pepper to taste

Throw it in the food processor and voila you have yourself some serious deliciousness.

This made just the right amount to spread on the pizza dough too.

Now just roll out the pizza dough, spread the pesto on and throw on all of the toppings. Bake at 450 until the edges are a nice golden brown. Oh and of course if you're a lush like me you'll want to pair this with a nice glass of wine. I went with a chilled pinot grigio. It was 112 degrees outside yesterday so cold drinks are a must at the moment.

Bon Appetit!