Thai Chicken Flatbread Pizza

Just thinking about this thai chicken flatbread makes me want to put it on the menu again for next week.....and I just might do that!  It tastes amazing, and it's really quick to put together.  I'll admit, I'm too lazy to make my own pizza crust most of the time (and I'm not into using Pillsbury or Boboli crusts anymore), but I found a solution that I have been using whenever I want a super thin crust pizza.....store bought flatbread!  I buy packaged flatbread from the bread section of my grocery store, top it with whatever I want on my pizza, and bake at 450 degrees for about 8 minutes or so.

There are a lot of different flatbread pizzas that I have to share, but this one is the hands-down winner for both Kevin and me.  Just a warning....the sriracha that I top it with makes it very spicy so if spicy is not your thing you might want to leave it off.  I didn't measure to find exact measurements when I made this, but I tried to give my best estimates.  Try this great combination, it's a great pizza :)

Ingredients:

2 pieces of store-bought flatbread (you can of course substitute your favorite pizza crust)
A little over half of a 7 oz. jar of peanut sauce (or enough to thinly spread all over your pizza crust)
1/2 lb. cooked chicken, diced into small, bite-sized pieces
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (you can use more or less depending on your tastes....I think I probably used a little more than this!)
4 scallions, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Sriracha hot sauce, to taste

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2.  Spread the peanut sauce all over the flatbread crust in a thin layer.  Arrange the chicken pieces over the pizza.  Sprinkle on the shredded cheese, jalapenos, and the scallions.

3.  Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the cheese has completely melted and the crust has browned a little (you'll probably need to cook this a bit longer if you use regular pizza crust instead of flatbread).  Top cooked pizza with shredded carrots, cilantro, and sriracha (be careful - a little goes a long way.....you can look at the amount I used in a picture to give you an idea of how much to use if you want it very spicy).

This is sooooo good!

Source:  Inspired by lots of restaurants where I've had something similiar and from a recipe I saw on allrecipes

Pizza Cups

I took my first foods class when I was in middle school, and there is one recipe that I learned in that class that I remember and still make to this day.....pizza cups (it's a little hard to tell from the picture above, but these are little deep dish pizzas baked in a muffin pan)!  After learning to make these, I would always volunteer to make dinner for my family, and eventually they all got super sick of me making pizza cups every single time :)  Regardless, I love these little pizza cups and still make them about once a month on a weekday because they only have a few ingredients and always taste great (I also bet kids would love them)!  The recipe below makes 8 pizza cups (muffin sized) which feeds 2 hungry adults, but a lot of times I'll make a double batch so that I can use a whole pound of ground beef and have leftovers for lunches.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground beef
1 cup tomato sauce (we usually use store bought unless I have some leftover sauce in the freezer)
1/2 cup yellow or white onion, diced (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
1 can refrigerated biscuits - 8 biscuits (we usually use the pillsbury buttermilk biscuits)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
salt, pepper, and italian seasoning, to taste
pam or olive oil to grease the muffin pan

Directions:

1.  In a large skillet, add ground beef, onions, and garlic.  Heat over medium heat until beef is browned through and onions are softened.  Remove from heat, and drain excess grease.  Stir tomato sauce into the beef mixture and season with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning to taste.

2.  Meanwhile, take each refrigerated biscuit, and flatten with your hands and stretch out a bit.  Press each biscuit on the bottom and up the sides of a greased muffin tin (so the biscuit will form a little cup and come all the way up the side of the tin).

3.  Put a pinch of cheese in each biscuit cup.  Then spoon the beef and tomato sauce mixture to fill each cup.  Sprinkle the top with more shredded cheese.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees until biscuit cup edges are golden and cheese is melted (this usually takes me between 18-22 minutes).  If you love pepper like I do, put a little fresh cracked pepper on top of the pizza cups.  Let pizza cups cool for a few minutes and serve.