French Bread Pizza

I'm all about quick and easy but delicious meals.  Found this recipe on Mel's Kitchen website and is another keeper.  Go here for her link.

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread

1 tablespoon olive oil

Garlic powder, for sprinkling (oops, forgot this one...still tasted good)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1-2 cups pizza sauce (I'll include her homemade recipe, super easy and really good)

Pizza toppings of choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Slice the French bread in half the long way (like a hot dog bun, but don't keep them attached).  Lightly press the bread with the palms of your hands until the bread is compressed to half of what it was.

3. Drizzle the olive oil on both halves, about 1/2 tablespoon for each half, and brush lightly onto the dough.  Sprinkle with just a touch of garlic powder.

4. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese across each loaf (1/4 cup for each side).  Place the loaves on an aluminum-foil lined baking sheet and bake for 3-5 minutes until the cheese just barely starts to turn golden.  Don't let it burn!

5. Spread pizza sauce on top of the cheese-crusted loaves and top with pizza toppings of your choice.  We used about a cup of mozzarella cheese on each loaf.

6. Bake the pizzas for 8-10 minutes.

7. Cut with a serrated knife and serve immediately.

Here's her pizza sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

pinch of crushed red pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until desired consistency.

Great for an easy Friday night meal :)