White Pizza with Mushrooms and Parsley Pesto

During this Shelter in Place I have much to be thankful for: I have a job I go to everyday, I do not have to homeschool my children, I have no children at home, and I am healthy. But for those of you at home, particularly with kids, this is for you.

If you are running out of ideas of what to feed your family and your kids in particular, try the white pizza. It is a chance to sneak some vegetables into your meals (pesto made from spinach!) and if you have dough - admit it, you've been experimenting with sourdough because what else have you got but time - this comes together in a snap. You can even cheat and buy premade dough (I did!) The "white" part can be as simple as just mozzarella or use up leftovers like sour cream or cottage cheese that is about to turn; pureed together and you have a "sauce" for your white pizza, which is what I did with the addition of some feta, yum!

For those of you without finicky eaters, get creative and make parsley pesto to add more greens and iron to your diet in a tasty way. Keeping the white sauce, I just dabbed the parsley pesto around the pizza since mushrooms, garlic and parsley are a match made in heaven. You know your eaters, make them happy!

White Pizza with Mushrooms and Parsley Pesto

Pizza dough for 12 inch pie

½ lb white or cremini mushrooms, sliced in ½ inch slices

3 tablespoons butter and dash of olive oil

Large bunch parsley

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch salt

½ cup sour cream

½ cup cottage cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 oz crumbled feta cheese

Salt

Pepper

Preheat the oven to the highest setting. Flour a baking sheet and stretch out your dough to the thickness you like and set aside. In a large sautee pan heat butter and a dash of oil (to keep butter from browning) over low heat and add sliced mushrooms. Add salt and pepper and allow them to brown on both sides; cook in two batches if they needed so they don't crowd each other. Remove and set aside.

Puree sour cream, cottage cheese, and feta and spread on pizza dough. In a blender puree parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt until well pureed. Cover pizza with mozzarella, dot with cooked mushrooms and parsley pesto. Bake for 12-15 minutes until hot and cheese is beginning to brown. Add a fine sprinkle of salt and pepper and serve.

Hugs!