Pizza with Grilled Vegetables

Son of a gun. I know I've been commenting on the crazy cool summer we had been having and as a result, I've been called out, bigtime. Yeah we're talking record highs over here and that doesn't sit well with me. I am not of the general population who loves the heat. No, it makes me very uncomfortable. Saying so, you can understand my angst against cooking in the heat and that's probably the thing that bugs me the most.

This is when I get excited about my boyfriend's love of grilling. Truth be told, I usually feel a little left out during the hot summer days when BBQ'ing is the general rule. Not that I mind, I love BBQ but given that I don't actually do any of the grilling, that pretty much leaves me to side dishes and such. That's okay, it forces me to be creative.

The other night proved my boyfriend and I to be a perfect match, as if I had ever thought otherwise! He had grilled off a combination of red peppers, fennel, zucchini and red onion the night before. I happened to have leftover pesto and smoked chicken. Since I make the bread machine do all of the work for me, I made a pizza dough and voila a delicious pizza was in the making. The pizza turned out great. I love it when a leftover idea turns out so well.

On a side note, I only had to bake the pizza for less than twenty minutes so the heat factor in the kitchen was at a minimum. However, I've been wanting to attempt a grilled pizza for some time now and the next time I make this pizza, I'll have my boyfriend do all of the work (besides the bread machine of course.) Yes!

RECIPE:

Balsamic Vinegar
Leftover cooked chicken, diced
3/4 cup mozarella cheese, grated
Pesto

Vegetables (you probably won't need to use all of the vegetables)
1 red pepper
1/2 head fennel
1/2 red onion
1 small zucchini

Slice all of the vegetables in half. Toss in olive oil and grill until soft. Set aside


Pizza Dough (for bread machine courtesy of Recipezaar:) (or any pizza dough of your choice.)


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. This dough makes 2 thin crust pizzas. Halve the dough and roll out one half to 10-14." Dust your pizza pan with cornmeal. Cover the dough with the pesto leaving about 1/2-1 inch on the edges. Sprinkle the cut up chicken followed by the cheese. Spread the vegetables over the cheese (err on the side of less here.) Sprinkle about a tsp of balsamic vinegar over the top. Place the pizza in the oven for 15-18 minutes.