Costco Pizza

I love making my own pizza--kneading the dough, spreading on last summer's homemade canned marinara sauce, decorating it with lots of veggies.  But sometimes laziness or lack of time creeps into my life and I still want yummy pizza.  So we modify the Costco 'take and bake' pizzas to suit our tastes.

For only $9 they sure are a good deal.  Here's how we modified a pepperoni pizza yesterday:

Pepperoni overload!  This is how the pie came from the store.  It's blurry but you get the point: too much pepperoni.  It'd be covered in puddles of grease if we left it all on there.  Bleh.

I removed most of the meat, saving it in the freezer for a future pizza.

I added yellow bell peppers, fresh tomatoes, and some garlic chives.

I thought it could use more green so I dolloped on some basil pesto.

And this is what it looked like after baking.  I like a slightly crunchy crust so I let it cook a bit longer than the directions call for.  Plus, with all the extra water in the fresh veggies it needs a bit more time.  

Our modified pizzas rival any local pizzeria, especially considering the price! I have a feeling these take-and-bake pizzas will be a regular part of our bimonthly Costco runs once we move to Gualala.  

When we get the cheese pizzas, we spoon off half of the cheese before decorating it with veggies and whatnot.  They come with SO MUCH CHEESE and I just don't like that much of it.  I keep whatever I remove for another cooking project.  Since the pizzas are sold to be cooked later, I make sure to use the cheese or extra meat in a fully cooked meal for safety.