Pesto Pizza

There are many many ways to make homemade pizza, but this is one of those pull-it-together-last-minute-pizzas for a group of girlfriends who are sitting around drinking wine on your patio. Oh, how I love those nights! I have some of the best girlfriends and they never fail me. We may differ politically, but we accept each other and all our quirks, we think the same things are funny, rejoice in good times, share in the hard times.

This is the gang at my cinco de mayo party where we all wore stick on mustaches.

Yes, I do love my girlfriends and I don’t know what I would do without them. One evening this summer I invited the girls over for a late Sunday lunch. We started by opening a bottle of crisp white wine and then finished off all the white wine I had in the house (4 bottles). There were only five of us! Allyson (the baker) brought a homemade loaf of bread with her, we tore into it and dipped into my spinach artichoke dip. When the sun went down, we made this pizza and opened a lovely red wine.

Coppola's Rubicon Estate 2005 Merlot
For this pizza you will need a can of pizza dough, or a can of crescent rolls. I’ve learned that you should bake the crust halfway through before layering your pizza toppings – otherwise the crust would come out soggy. For sauce I used homemade pesto, but you could use store bought pesto. If you aren’t a fan of pesto, make tomato sauce or use store bought pasta sauce.



Next I tore fresh mozzarella and covered the pizza generously. I sliced tomatoes thinly over the mozzarella but if you aren’t a fan of this style pizza layer your pizza with other favorite veggies. The finishing step is to add a light layer of shredded cheese on top. I used parmesan. Bake your pizza according to your crust directions. I baked mine for about 15 minutes in a 425 degree oven.