Chicken Thai Pizza

Long ago Ben and I decided Friday night date night shouldn't just mean dinner at a nearby restaurant.  It was a bold move.  But a good one.  Good for our budget.  Good for our quality of time together.  Good all around.  Snuggling up with each other, a box of red vines, and the cast of 30 Rock can be even more intimate than footsies at a side booth in California Pizza Kitchen (which I usually called California Pizza Chicken, or California Chicken Kitchen).  The sad part was, I knew if we only dined out once or twice a month we'd never choose CPK again.  Good food, but Crystal/Pentagon City neighborhoods had better.

This meant I had to come up with my own way to make Thai Chicken Pizza.  We tried just buying the freezer aisle one at the store, but it wasn't nearly as good as the real thing.  So, we decided to just read the ingredients on the back of the box and try making it fresh.  Brilliant!  This is so easy to make and tastes way better than the frozen kind and only slightly less better than the actual restaurant one.

Here's how:

Pizza dough (we just do Pilsbury cause I'm terrified of making bread).

Peanut Sauce

1 breast  chicken, cooked and cubed (I use really small pieces, usually just by tearing at the cubes, and I usually don't even use a full breast, this is a go-to skimpy-meat meal when our budget needs a squeeze)

Shredded Carrots (generous handful)

Bean Sprouts (generous handful)

1 1/2 cups low-moisture, part skim, shredded mozzarella cheese

5 or so steams of cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Basically just prep the oven however your pizza dough tells you to.  Grease a cookie (or pizza sheet) and then layer on all the ingredients in the order I have them listed.  

It really is so easy, quick and cheap.  We love it.  I actually think Ben would tell you he prefers it to the one at the restaurant.  I probably don't, just because the one at the restaurant requires no prep on my part.