Make Monday: French Bread Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

I was feeling a little nostalgic the other day thinking back to my picky childhood days.  I was thinking about it because I now have a fairly picky child and I remember being a picky kid and hating it-mostly people always bugging me about what I did and didn't eat.  I hated having someone give me a lecture every time I went to their house or ate out and I hate having to now defend my child's choices.  She is picky in what she eats people...she is not a bad person.  END OF STORY!!!  I don't think I ever tried to make a big deal of it as a kid and when I went someplace and they served something I didn't like to eat, I just didn't eat it and I ate stuff I liked and went on with life.  And one of the things that I did not eat as a kid was pizza, in fact, I ate my first piece of pizza when I was 21, but my best friends growing up LOVED pizza.  Every time I went to their house for a birthday party they had pizza-pizza buns to be exact.  They took regular bread rolls, put pizza sauce on them and then pizza toppings and baked them in the oven.  I do remember they smelled good but I was never brave enough to try one-if only I had known what I was missing.  Well I am not scarred for not having ate pizza as a kid and I feel like I am pretty normal and now I go through spurts where I feel like I could eat pizza everyday.  Well this day was no exception-I was craving pizza-chicken, bacon, ranch pizza to be exact.  I wanted to be able to have everything I love about this pizza without the time of making a crust from scratch so I channeled my best friends mom and her house as a kid and remembered the pizza buns and created my own spin on that and came up with: french bread chicken, bacon, ranch pizza.

This is the perfect way to get everything you love about pizza but in half the time.  Here is what you will need:

French bread (I used half a loaf which was enough for 3 people though we all could have eaten more)

1/4 cup ranch dressing (may need less for half a loaf)

cooked chicken ( I grill mine and add a little seasoning) I use 2 chicken breasts

3/4 cup mozzarella 

3/4 cup cheddar cheese

2-3 slices bacon (chopped, friend and drained)

1 tomato (chopped)

2-3 green onion (chopped)

olive oil

Begin by slicing the bread in half and brushing each side with olive oil.

Place the bread on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven under the broiler until slightly toasted.  This step helps to keep the bread from getting super soggy with the addition of all the other ingredients.

Now spread each piece of bread with the ranch dressing.  Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.  Add the chicken, bacon, tomatoes, and onions.  Sprinkle the top with the cheddar cheese.  Place in an oven preheated to 450 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the top is toasted to your liking.  What you end up with is a crispy, light crust with all the pizza taste you could ask for.  The flavor was incredible and it was so quick and easy.  In fact I have been tempted to make this for dinner 4 or 7 days this week but resisted because it isn't that low calorie for sure.  Next time you are in the mood for pizza without all the pizza work give this a try: French Bread pizza.   I think you are going to love it.