Food Rut

Remember this guy from SuperSize Me?

We all get into food ruts and I am certainly no exception. For as long as I can remember my husband and I have been ordering the same two toppings on our pizza for the past 10 years - sausage and olives. No matter where we go - Little Star, Paxti's or North Beach, we always order the same thing. When I make pizza for our Friday movie nights - the one night we don't eat at the table - we are creatures of habit with our sausage and olive combo.

I was inspired (Pinspired?) recently by a recipe I found through Pinterest that looked like it was worth breaking the pizza rut for. I knew my son liked brussel sprouts with bacon as a side dish, so putting it on pizza seemed like an obvious opportunity to enjoy our veggies with a little bacon. The pizza turned out great - but I made so many modifications on the original recipe that I am just going to write it out below. We loved it, but the kids didn't think it was that great.

Oh well, I guess my bacon theory was proven wrong this time. But to an adult, this recipe was a winner!

Bacon and Brussel Sprout Pizza
Inspired by Shutterbean.com

1 batch of No Knead pizza dough
3 slices bacon, chopped and cooked (Reserve bacon fat)
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/2 onion finely chopped
5 large-ish brussel sprouts, shredded
1 Tbls. balsamic vinegar
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Red pepper flakes to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Fry bacon till crispy and let it cool on a paper towel, crumble bacon when it's cool enough. Reserve a tablespoon or two of bacon drippings in the pan.

Add the chopped onions with salt and pepper and brussel sprouts to the bacon drippings in the pan on medium heat, sauteing till softened - about 4 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and stir to combine.

Spread the pizza dough out onto a oiled cookie sheet, slowly pushing it out to the sides. It takes some time to get it stretched out, so just keep pushing it out with your fingers. Spoon the marinara onto the dough and then sprinkle 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. (Knowing we might have a revolt on our hands, we made half the pizza cheese-only for the kids). Spoon the cooked brussel sprout mixture onto the pizza and top it with crumbled bacon and then top with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.

Bake until the cheese is browned, about 10 minutes.