Recipe: Pesto Pizza

Let the culinary adventures continue! A student in my July session mentioned that she prepared Greek Pizza using pesto as her pizza base, rather than using a tomato-based sauce. I love pesto, but to bring down the calories and fat while still enjoying plenty of sauce, I experimented with adding pesto to white sauce. It was a huge hit with my family: Even my meat-loving son preferred it to the other pizzas we made that night.

Cook's Note: I used lowered-fat, reduced sodium canned condensed cream of chicken soup as my "white sauce" base, but if you prefer to make your own white sauce, it's easy to do: Combine 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of flour in a container with a lid, and shake well. Add the mixture to a saucepan with a teaspoon or two of butter or margarine. Cook on medium-high, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens (do not allow mixture to boil).

Pesto Pizza

Ingredients:

1 (10.5-ounce) can lowered-fat, reduced sodium canned condensed cream of chicken soup (see Cook's Note)
3 tablespoons prepared pesto
2 pizza crusts
Pizza toppings, as desired (I used chopped poached chicken, diced eggplant, and diced tomato)
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Combine soup and pesto in small bowl. Spread half of mixture on each pizza. Layer with toppings and cheese. Cook, following pizza crust manufacturer's directions or pizza crust recipe. Buon appetito!