Cheesy Margherita Pizza

One of my goals this fall is to cook more and eat out less. It sounds a lot easier than it is, especially if you live by yourself and you have NO cooking skills whatsoever. Well, tonight I decided to make a pizza. I found the recipe in cooking light and it looked delicious. I didn't know it could be so difficult to roll dough into a circle, but it is, in fact, it is almost impossible. Between that and setting the smoke alarm off, I did not begin my "cooking more, eating out less" plan as well as I hoped. But, I'm happy to report that in the end, it tasted absolutely delicious and I HIGHLY recommend this easy recipe. The exciting news is that 1 serving (2 slices) is 442 calories, that's so much better than a regular pizza.

Here is my picture, not as pretty, but it tasted SO good!

(I forgot to put the basil on before I took the picture)

• Ingredients

• • The 5 Ingredients
• • 1 (16-ounce) refrigerated fresh pizza crust dough
• • 2 plum tomatoes, each cut into 8 slices
• • 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Romano cheese
• • 12 basil leaves, thinly sliced

• Preparation

• • Directions: Roll dough into a 16-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place dough on a 16-inch pizza pan or baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cover loosely; let stand in a warm place (85°) for 15 minutes. Drain tomato slices on paper towels. Preheat oven to 425°. Sprinkle dough with 1/2 cup mozzarella; arrange tomato slices in a single layer over mozzarella. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup mozzarella and Romano cheeses evenly over tomatoes. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until crust and cheese are browned. Cut pizza into 8 wedges, and sprinkle evenly with basil.

Happy cooking! Hopefully it gets easier and easier. I will keep you updated.

-Morgan