What's For Dinner Wednesday: Pizza with Chicken Sausage, Zucchini, and Olives

I love an easy dinner-- especially on a weeknight when there is a lot going on. Recently I had a later night at work, a few errands to run that evening, and then I still wanted to get a workout in. By the time all of that was done it was almost 9 PM and I hadn't even thought about dinner yet.

Then I remembered that I was planning a pizza for that evening and I breathed a little sigh of relief. This pizza recipe requires minimal prep time, no additional cooking (besides the baking, of course), and is a whole meal on a slice. Making a dinner that doesn't require "active" cooking (i.e. stirring, sauteeing, grilling) also gave me a few extra minutes to pack my lunch for the next day and start folding our mountain of laundry.

This pizza has great flavor for the interesting ingredient combination-- I love to change up pizza toppings. It makes it feel like a meal that is totally new to me!

Ingredients:

• 1 small zucchini, ends discarded and sliced into thin rounds
• Salt
• 1/2 Tbs. cornmeal
• 1 pre-baked pizza crust *I used the multigrain kind they sell in my grocery store bakery section
• 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce *I used the homemade sauce I had leftover after making this pizza & sauce recipe.
• 1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 1/2 Italian chicken sausage links, sliced into rounds
• 2 oz. black olives, drained and sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 

Layer two paper towels on a flat surface and arrange zucchini slices on top. Sprinkle each zucchini round with salt and cover with an additional paper towel. Allow the zucchini to sit for 12-15 minutes. You should start to see the paper towel fill with moisture and if the top towel becomes too saturated, discard and replace with another sheet as often as needed.

 

Meanwhile, sprinkle cornmeal on a large baking sheet and place pizza crust on top. Spread sauce over the top of the crust leaving about a 1/2 inch border around the edges. Sprinke evenly with 1 cup of mozzarella.

Arrange the zucchini and chicken sausage slices on top of the cheese layer. I alternated each slice and made a checkerboard pattern, but you can arrange them randomly if you like. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top and then sprinkle on the olives.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove and allow the pizza to cool for 3-5 minutes before slicing and serving.