Crustless Pizza (aka Pizza Chicken)

Pizza is a family favorite at my house. The combination of the tomato sauce and the cheese is so appealing to me - in fact, I have been craving a hot piece of pizza and mentioned it to a coworker in a meeting the other day because I could smell the Parmesan and Tomato on her sandwich.

My experience with homemade pizza is that a good amount of the calories are coming from the crust. My friend mentioned that since she is following a low carb diet, she has been eating crustless pizza, essentially all of the toppings in a casserole instead of on a crust.

So, I was intrigued when I saw a recipe the other day for crustless pizza. Instead of a dough or bread for the bottom of the pizza they used chicken breast as a crust.

Pizza Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
tomato sauce
shredded mozzarella
turkey pepperoni
other toppings
onion salt
basil

I started by cutting my partially frozen chicken breasts in half, so as to have two thin pieces of chicken.
Using a tenderizing mallet, I pounded the chicken to make it even (it was already thin, just wanted to even it out for cooking).

Place the filleted chicken in a baking pan.

Top with pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni and any other pizza toppings that you prefer.

Season with onion salt and basil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Disclaimer

Strawberry Cheesecake Chex Mix

At work, we celebrate birthdays by bringing in treats to share. Earlier this week, we were celebrating a young woman's birthday. I had some Chex, so I decided that I would make a Chex mix to share with the group. She is a girly girl, so when I came across the Pink Powder Puff Crunch, it sounded like the perfect Chex mix for her birthday. Only, I seemed to be short on the ingredients. So, I did what I do...I improvised. I had only a small pack of strawberry gelatin, but I also had a small pack of cheesecake pudding - I decided that strawberry and cheesecake are flavors that work together, so off I went to make some dessert Chex mix. I also didn't want it to be just Chex, so I added in some white chocolate chips and some red sugar crystals for a little extra pink sparkle.


Strawberry Cheesecake Chex Mix

9 c Rice Chex
1 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 c butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1 box strawberry-flavored gelatin
1 box cheesecake flavored instant pudding mix
1 c white chocolate chips
2 tbsp red sugar crystals

Measure cereal into large bowl.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter uncovered on High 1 minute. Stir; microwave 15 to 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

In 2-gallon large food-storage plastic bag, mix powdered sugar, gelatin, pudding and red sugar crystals. Add cereal mixture. Seal bag and shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper; cool about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

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