I saved one for my lunch today, thinking I would get some marinara from the spaghetti line and be done with it.  But low and behold-It was Chicken Marinara day!  I asked the ladies to give me the goods minus the chicken patty.  They didn’t think I was nuts because they know about my current vegetarian status.  I microwaved my little pizza burger and voila!  It was seriously better–mainly because it also tasted like pizza AND chicken marinara.  I do believe I have a new favorite thing.

I give these sweet Morning Star Farms Tomato & Basil Pizza Burger babies a 5 out of 5 because they taste like pizza, they are vegetarian, and they make a mean "chicken marinara!"

If you were curious about my “french fries” that I mentioned above, this is how I make them:

In a small bowl, mix the following:

• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1 (or 2) tsp of paprika, I really just eyeball it until the color is nice and red
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• salt
• pepper

1. Wash, peel, and cut up your potatoes into the size of “fry” you want.  I usually use white, but I only had red last nighy.  They worked fine.
2. Spray large baking pan (I use it for cookies) with Pam, spread your fries out, and drizzle the above oil mixture on them.
3. Move them around with your spatula until all coated.  You could do this in a separate bowl, but I try to conserve the dishes.
4. Cook on 375 until crispy on both sides, turning with a spatula when you start to smell the flavors wafting around.

Easy Cafe Style “Chicken” Marinara at Home

Layer the following:

• Spaghetti Noodles
• Pizza burger
• Slice of cheese
• Hot marinara sauce
• Grated Parmesan

On a separate note, you can instantly play “Food, Inc.” on Netflix.  We watched the whole thing yesterday, and it is really astounding and informative.  I highly recommend that you watch it.

The slices of black olives and sun-dried tomatoes perfectly accent the creamy goat cheese, fresh basil, and artichoke hearts.

Homemade pizza is a standard at my house. I have a special place in my heart for pizza because my husband charmed me by making a few during our very first dates together. It was a rainy, cold day just like most of the days this week. So we stayed in, he made a pizza for me, and I introduced him to Lost. Making him my Lost buddy was incredibly selfish of me, but that is another story for another time. =)

Allow yourself an hour since this dough needs to rise. Of course you can buy a pizza dough at the store if you want something quick, but this recipe makes 2 medium pizzas. You can make one and save it for later in the week like I did.

Pizza Dough

1 cup hot water (just really hot from tap works fine)
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable
3 cups all purpose (or bread) flour (NOT SELF RISING)

• Add the above ingredients, one at a time and stir, until you get to the flour.
• Add 2 cups of the flour and mix it in.
• Gradually start adding 1/4 cup at a time until the dough mixture gets perfect. Sometimes it takes exactly 3 cups, sometimes a little less, so just evaluate the consistency as you go along until the dough mixture gets perfect- “not too sticky, not too flaky” as Joe says.

Hearty Goat Cheese (if you please!) Pizza

The “if you please!” part of this comes from Joe’s grandma, Mim. She treats her little doggy, Little Man, to a piece of cheese every afternoon at 5:30 p.m. And he WILL get mad if she forgets.

I added the following ingredients, starting with the sauce, and working my way up to the shredded cheese topping.

Enjoy!

• Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo sauce (or a tomato-based sauce if you don’t have this on hand)
• fresh chopped basil
• goat cheese, 2-3 inches of a roll, crumbled OR 1 cup crumbles
• artichoke hearts, quartered (easy to find in a can near the pickles and olives)
• sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• jumbo black olives, sliced
• shredded mozzarella