The Football Pizza Gourmet

As much as I love fall, I can't say I'm a football fan --although I am always happy when the Saints or the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles win as they both did this weekend.

However, when you live within a stone's throw of a football stadium, as I do, like it or not, football lives at your house during the fall. The kitties aren't sports fans, either. They hide in the closets and under the bed when the booming stadium sound system brings every touchdown, field goal and half-time show number into our family room.

I've learned to adapt. Except for one thing. It seems that every time we have a home game invariably, I get a craving for pizza -- piping hot, cheese-dripping pizza. And that's too bad because while you can't always predict the outcome of a football game, you can lay money on not getting a pizza delivered to your doorstep in less than two hours on gameday in Hattiesburg. And that's only assuming you make it through on the continuously busy pizza delivery phone lines.

You have three options when your craving, like mine, just won't go away. You can wait and wait and wait knowing your pizza, if and when you get it, probably will be cold and possibly not even what you ordered.

You can brave the throngs of tail-gaters and go get it, not a job for the faint of heart.

Or you can make it yourself.

I usually choose option 3. Two things I always have in my kitchen: ready-made pizza crusts and chocolate.

I must say I am turning into something of a pizza gourmet.

Some of my favorite creations: prosciutto, goat cheese and basil pizza; fried artichoke and spinach pizza, and, quite possibly my favorite, the one I made yesterday, barbecue chicken pizza. It was a great way of finishing off Thursday night's rotisserie chicken and summer's half-used bottle of BBQ sauce.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 large ready made pizza crust (Boboli, Mama Mary's or the like)

Cooked chicken cut into bite-size chunks (about 2 cups). May also use leftover pork roast.

1/2-1 cup of BBQ sauce

1 sliced green pepper

1 sliced red onion

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese or a Colby/Monterey Jack mix

2 T olive oil separated

2 T chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Brush pizza crust with 1 T of olive oil, then brush the crust lightly with BBQ sauce to taste (I use about 1/4 cup). Heat remaining olive oil in skillet and saute pepper, garlic and red onion with salt and pepper until crisp-tender. Scatter over the BBQ sauce on the crust. Toss the chicken chunks in the remaining BBQ sauce. to coat evenly Scatter over the veggies on the pizza. Scatter cheese over all.

Lower oven temp to 425 degrees.

Place pizza directly on the middle oven rack. Bake about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro

I think this may become the official pizza of The House Where the Black Cat Lives.

Go Eagles!