Ben and I are HUGE fans of pizza, so lately I’ve been trying more homemade pizzas and it has been great (and cheaper!) Last night I made this sausage and pepper pizza from, you guessed it, Williams Sonoma. It turned out wonderfully. After hearing many people say how wonderful Trader Joe’s frozen pizza dough is, I decided to give it a try tonight. It is very tasty and extremely easy to work with, so I’m glad I have it around for the nights when I don’t have the time or energy to make my own crust. I used turkey sausage instead of regular Italian sausage – it is so much better for you, and still tastes great.

Pizza is really one of those things that can be done many different ways and still come out well, so it is kind of funny to even have a recipe. I like to prebake my crust without toppings first because I find that the baking times for the crust and the toppings differ quite a bit. The original recipe does not call for minced garlic, but I have found that I like minced garlic on just about every pizza I make…you can’t go wrong! I used turkey sausage instead of regular Italian sausage – it is so much better for you, and still tastes great. I browned the sausage in a skillet before putting it on the pizza to ensure that it would be fully cooked since I decreased the baking time of the toppings. Below is the recipe I used with my small modifications. This was a delicious dinner!

Sausage and Pepper Pizza
Ingredients:
dough for one 12” pizza
extra virgin olive oil for brushing
3 vine-ripened tomatoes, seeded and diced
one clove garlic, minced
shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1 ½ links turkey sausage, removed from casing
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼” slices
1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°. Bake pizza dough without toppings 7-10 minutes. While dough is baking, brown crumbled sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Remove dough from oven. Brush crust with olive oil, leaving a half-inch border. Spread the tomatoes and garlic evenly on top. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Distribute the sausage and bell pepper evenly over the cheese. Sprinkle a bit more mozzarella on top. Distribute the chopped oregano evenly over the top. Bake again, 7-10 more minutes until the cheese is bubbly.