Mexican-Style Pizza

I recently had a hankering for a pizza night, but I am trying to eat healthier and wanted my pizza to reflect that. I immediately thought of making a Mexican pizza, so I decided to sort of invent my own variation. I started out with my favorite bread machine pizza dough recipe, a whole wheat dough that isn't terribly dry and dense like some whole wheat breads can be.

I looked in the fridge for a sauce-type thing that I could spread on the dough as my base. I didn't want to go with tomato sauce; that would be too much like a traditional pizza. I found a little bit of tomatillo salsa that needed to be used up, as well as some medium taco sauce. That would do. I mixed them both together and came up with my pizza base.

Next came the meat. I browned some ground turkey, added taco seasoning to it, and crumbled that over the pizza. Yum. After that, I sprinkled some black beans and spooned on some delicious tomato-less salsa that I had gotten at Trader Joe's not too long ago. This salsa is a corn and chile variety, and I love it. It's mildly sweet, has a bit of a kick, and tastes wonderful. I threw on the rest of a green bell pepper I had laying around, a touch of pepper jack cheese, and some crumpled-up tortilla chips for a crunchy garnish. I was in heaven.

Andy had a dollop of sour cream on the top of each of his slices. He loved it that way. I loved mine with just a sprinkling of Cholula across the top. Either way, we both agreed that this was a great pizza. It was exotic enough to be a departure from the same ol' pizza, but it was still a pizza. It was crazy filling, too. We had leftovers for two days, I think. It definitely wasn't bad, for something I had just made up on the fly. I'd make it again!

Mexican-Style Pizza

Recipe by Bri

makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients

1 whole wheat pizza dough

1/4-1/3 cup salsa or taco sauce, any kind

1/2 lb. lean ground turkey

1 Tbsp. taco seasoning

1/4 cup water

1/2 a green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/4-1/3 cup corn salsa, or cooked, shucked corn

1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup reduced-fat pepper jack cheese

8-10 tortilla chips, lightly crushed

cornmeal, for dusting

sour cream, to taste

hot sauce, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat a medium-sized skillet to medium-high heat. Spray with nonstick cooking spray, then add the ground turkey. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until browned, crumbling up the mixture as it cooks. Add the taco seasoning and water, lower the heat, and simmer for an additional 8-10 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly dust a flat surface with cornmeal. Place the dough on the cornmeal and stretch into a 12-inch round. To the dough, add the taco sauce, spreading to just about 1/2-inch from the edges of the circle.

3. Next, add the cooked turkey, then the green peppers, black beans, corn or corn salsa, and the pepper jack cheese. Sprinkle the tortilla chips over the top. Bake at 400 for about 12-15 minutes. Watch for the cheese to melt, and the chips to brown just slightly. Remove from oven, cut into 6-8 wedges, and serve with sour cream and hot sauce, to taste.