Paula Deen's Mexican Pizza

Total Time: 27 mins Preparation Time: 7 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
• 2 (12 inch) prepared pizza crust or 2 (12 inch) frozen cheese, pizzas
• 2 (16 ounce) jars chunky salsa
• 2 (8 ounce) packages shredded mexican blend cheese (monterey jack, cheddar, and other mild cheeses combined)
• 1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 1 cup chopped cooked ham
• shredded lettuce
• sour cream

Recipe

• 1 position the oven rack at the lowest level. if you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven on the rack. preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• 2 heat the oil in a small saucepan and cook the green pepper and mushrooms over medium heat until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. cut the crusts into biscuit sized pieces using a biscuit cutter. distribute the vegetables evenly over the crusts. reserve 1 cup of the salsa and spoon the remaining salsa evenly over the pizzas. if you don't have a pizza stone, place the pizzas on a baking sheet. they won't be as crisp this way, but this is a lot less messy than placing them directly on the rack.
• 3 bake the pizzas for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, then sprinkle with the cheese. bake 7 minutes more. serve the pizza slices topped with the reserved salsa, olives, cooked ham, shredded lettuce and sour cream.
• 4 note: for variety, you can make a greek style pizza, using olives, tapenade, spinach and feta cheese. an italian style pizza uses tomato sauce and provolone cheese. a vegetarian style pizza simply omits the meat.