Southwest Chicken Pizza

This year, one of my goals is to try out 50 new recipes. I have so many cookbooks, and I am always trying new recipes, so I figure this should be a lot of fun! It will equal out to about 1 per week (and sometimes I might try 2 per week, so that will make up for week's I take off, or make a repeat item).

I actually tried 2 recipes this week, but I am still trying to perfect one of them, so I'll share that one later. This week I wanted to share Southwest Chicken Pizza from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book (the pink edition). This recipe actually came from Sandra Lee (in the new pink section). I love trying out new pizza recipes, and will probably try out even more this year. I also love Mexican food, so this was a great combination.

A couple of things to note, I used a premade pizza crust. In the recipe it states to use a pizza crust mix and mix in 1/4 cup of mashed black beans. I love the Mama Mary pizza crusts, and I was looking for something easy, so that is what I did, but maybe sometime I will try the mix with the mashed black beans.

Also, I would suggest using canned corn instead of frozen corn like I did. I don't think the corn really cooked long enough, and wasn't very warm. I had to heat it up a little more in the microwave to get it warm enough to eat.

Also, I would drain your corn really well, and your salsa a little. My pizza had a little too much juice, and my toppings kept falling off. It was good, but next time I will drain my ingredients a little more.

Southwest Chicken Pizza (my version):

Ingredients:

-- Premade pizza crust

-- Olive oil

-- 1/2 cup (or more if you like) of salsa (I used my own homade version, see below)

-- 1/3 cup of Mexicorn, drained (suggest using from can)

-- 1/2 cup (or more if desired) fiesta blend shredded cheese

-- 1 cup cooked diced chicken

Directions:

Preheat oven per directions on the pizza crust (mine was at 450 degrees I believe).

Brush olive oil over your premade crust. Then spread on salsa evenly over dough, leaving about a 1" border. Top with the corn, chicken and cheese and other ingredients as desired.

Bake according to the directions on your premade crust (I believe I cooked mine for 12 - 14 mins) until golden brown.

Homemade Salsa:

For my homemade salsa, add to a food precessor, 4-5 small Roma tomates (cut in half), 1/2 of a red onion (also cut up into smaller chunks), 1 tbs lime juice, 1 tsp salt (or more to taste), and a handful of cilantro. Mix together in your food processor and then take a taste to see if it needs more salt or lime juice. I don't like to mix too much or else it gets runny. It's even better after it sits in the fridge for a day or so. Enjoy!