Artichoke-and-Red Pepper Pizza

As usual, I was craving pizza for dinner (there's rarely a day that goes by when I don't crave some kind of pizza/Italian food). Normally, that means a quick trip to the (too close) Amelia's, a local Italian restaurant that serves some amazing food. But I decided to try something different and a little healthier. I tend to revert to Cooking Light when I want to find something quick and healthy, and I landed on this Artichoke-and-Red Pepper Pizza. Incredibly easy, this pizza is surprisingly full of flavor (even without a tomato sauce base).

I went with the Pillsbury refrigerated crust, which is a little more than the suggested 10 oz. in the recipe but works just fine. I have yet to master any kind of dough, so this is a quick replacement if you don't have the time (or the patience) to make a pizza dough from scratch. I followed the recipe from there, making (as always) a few little changes. Instead of canned sliced mushrooms, I used fresh sliced mushrooms (I absolutely loathe the canned kind). I just added those to the dried basil, oregano, and julienned red peppers, adding about 1/4 tsp. salt.  I did use canned artichokes marinated in a brine; I just rinsed them to remove some of the salty brine and drained.

I also separated the garlic out from the initial saute time. This is one thing I keep stumbling upon: recipes that call for garlic way too early in the recipe. I've followed recipes that call for garlic sauteed with other vegetables, and inevitably, if you follow the time and the temperature as indicated in the recipe, you'll end up with crunchy little bits of garlic, which is one of the worst things you can throw into a meal. So, if I come across garlic in a recipe that requires any kind of saute time, I add it at the last minute and saute for about 2 minutes.

I just served this pizza with a garden salad topped with carrots, tomatoes and red onions. Simple, tasty and a great alternative to the usual takeout pizza.