Frozen french bread pizza is good, but this easy homemade French Bread Pizza with Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomatoes tastes even better—and it's vegetarian!
Singing and Eating
When you first move in with someone, you learn all sorts of little tidbits about that someone's personality. Some of these things are endearing, while others, not so much.
After moving in with me, for example, I'm sure my husband wasn't pleased to find out that I make up little songs about everything. Especially cats. And sometimes I like to sing obscure 80s songs replacing key words with my cats' names. ("Miso likes to party all the time/Party all the time/Party all the tiiiiime"—come on, that's not annoying at all, right?)
And I didn't know about my husband's deep, abiding love for junk food. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love some good junk food now and then too. But my husband? He is serious about the stuff. I find Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Krispies hidden in the back of the pantry, behind boxes of Kashi and Erewhon. Pints of Ben & Jerry's covered with bags of frozen green beans. One time I was looking for an envelope and while searching through his desk, I came upon a whole drawer full of Pop-Tarts. A whole drawer of them, all neatly stacked in their neon-colored, fruit-flavored glory.
Frozen vs Homemade
Back when we first starting living together, before I really taught myself how to cook, we used to buy a lot of frozen meals and Chris always loaded up on French bread pizzas. This was fascinating to me because it wasn't something I ever had before. Pizza? On bread? Crazy! But he got me started on them and soon I was buying them for myself all the time too, even though I knew they were probably not the best thing I could be eating.
These French bread pizzas are a little more sophisticated than the frozen kind, though. I used my frozen pesto instead of tomato sauce since I have a lot of it in the freezer, and then I topped the pizzas with homemade sun-dried tomatoes because I still have tomatoes ripening on the countertop from the summer. They're easy, they taste good, and you don't have to hide them in the freezer underneath the frozen vegetables.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 French demi-baguette halved lengthwise
- ¼ cup pesto
- ½ cup mozzarella or Italian-blend cheese shredded
- ⅓ cup oven-roasted cherry tomatoes or oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place bread on baking sheet. Top each half with 2 tablespoons of pesto, ¼ cup of cheese, and tomatoes. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
Um yes. Twice a week minimum yes.
Robin (Masshole Mommy) says
What a great idea for lunches when I am always scrounging for ideas. I love the idea of putting sun dried tomatoes on top!
Maryann says
I love a good pesto.
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
Um...yes please. I really need to eat. Pizza is acceptable for breakfast right?
Kiersten says
Cold pizza is one of my favorite breakfasts. But it HAS to be cold.
Stephanie @ henry happened says
I love cold pizza for breakfast! The 2nd day is even better than the first! And I love when you do easy peasy dinner recipes that I know my kids will totally scarf down.
Kiersten says
YES! See, Chris always thinks that it's so gross that I eat pizza cold. But I love it when the cheese gets all hard and congealed. I prefer leftover cold pizza to the fresh stuff too!
shelly (cookies and cups) says
So fun! I love these!
And leave the mans Pop Tarts alone!!
Kiersten says
He can have his Pop-Tarts! He doesn't even have to hide them! Really!
Kare @ Kitchen Treaty says
Garden tomatoes ripening on your counter?! You must live in a dreamy zone.
I make up songs too, and it's reached a whole new level since having a baby. The combination of babies calming whenever you break into song, my horrible memory (what are the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star again?!), the sleep deprivation, and my huge level of dorkiness = songs about changing diapers, putting on shoes, going into the carseat ... yeah. And that Eddie Murphy classic from the 80's is pretty popular in our house too. Except (should I admit this?) it's when the dogs have to go outside, and it's "my girls want to potty all the time."
🙂
(These french bread pizzas looks so yummy and easy! Love it.)
Kiersten says
Yup, I still have a few stragglers from the green tomatoes I pulled in October. They're a wee bit wrinkly, but still good! (I hope?)
I love that you know that Eddie Murphy song too! High fives! Potty all the time works just as well. 😀
Corinna says
Yum! Now I know what I am making for dinner tonight.
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
looks wonderful! I could dive in!
Jessi says
For me, french bread pizza's are comfort food! It was probably one of the first things I learned to cook when I was a kid! I used to make a sandwich like this t my old job called the "Hot Tom", but I used fresh tomatoes and then roasted it on the bread itself!
Kiersten says
That sandwich sounds so good! I never thought of roasting the tomatoes on the bread...
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I like to do the bread pizza too! Yours with sundried tomatoes look great.
Kiersten says
I'm sure they'd be amazing on all the breads you bake! 🙂
JulieD says
I'm a junk food fanatic too. hehe Curtis loves french bread pizzas too but yours looks way better than the frozen ones!!
Kiersten says
I like junk food, but I'm more of a cupcakes, brownies, chocolate bar girl than Pop-Tarts, you know? 🙂
Anne - Mommy Has to Work says
I love French bread pizzas!
Bernadette @ Now Stir It Up says
I never understood french bread pizza's until I had one. They are awesome! This one looks great. Anything with sundried tomatoes has me interested!!
Kiersten says
Sun-dried pizzas are one of my favorite pizza toppings! So much more flavorful than the fresh ones. 🙂
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking says
This looks so delicious! You telling about your husband really got me tickled.He sounds like he really tries to be inventive in hiding his junk food!!
Kiersten says
Yeah, the desk drawer of Pop-Tarts was definitely a surprise!
Courtney Rae Jones says
*hehehe* I love it. I constantly make up songs too. Thankfully Jesse finds it endearing. I'm going away this week for work and he said he was going to miss my random songs. So last night when I burst into song, he secretly taped me! LOL. He played it for me later and we laughed so hard. *hahahahaha* I sounded like a lunatic! Alas, it's fun to make up songs!
And this fresh bread pizza looks awesome!!!! 🙂
Kiersten says
Chris does not find it endearing--it drives him nuts! Maybe if I heard myself, that would finally make me stop. 🙂
Jackie @ Domestic Fits says
When my husband and I got married, I found out that he would buy bowls of frozen nacho cheese dip, heat it up in the microwave and eat the entire thing for dinner. How he didn't die of a heart attack at 21 is pretty miraculous. This pizza looks like the perfect Monday Night Football watchin Meal.
Kiersten says
Yeah, that sounds like something Chris would do too...
mjskit says
these sandwiches would definitely curb a love of junk food! Why eat poptarts when you can eat these? Delicious!
Kiersten says
I never understood the appeal of Pop-Tarts. I might have to try making the homemade kind someday though...
Amy (Savory Moments) says
I don't think I've had a French bread pizza since I was a kid and we would eat the frozen ones from the box on occasion! These look really yummy!
Kiersten says
The frozen ones are good, but making them fresh is even better! 😀
Natalie @ Once Upon a Cutting Board says
I don't think I've ever heard of the frozen french bread pizza or an unfrozen version, but both sound delicious! Cinnamon toast crunch and cocoa krispies are such odd choices for junk food haha - it could be much worse!
Kiersten says
It must be an American thing! I think there are 2 brands of them here, one that's low cal & one that's not. They're pretty good, but not as good as homemade. 🙂
gem says
I love pesto pizza - I make them all the time (but w/store-bought stuff, I have yet to make a really good pesto myself). =)
Kiersten says
The pesto recipe I make is just the very first one that comes up when you Google it--ha! But it's served me well so far. 🙂
Jennifer says
This is a great lunch option and looks (and probably tastes) MUCH better than the frozen stuff
Rachel says
I love, love, love french bread pizza. So good.
I'll be right over.
Shirley says
I don't think I've ever had French bread pizza, but I have had its cousin, the English muffin pizza. But it was way less healthy and pretty than this. Also, singing with cat names is part of the territory when it comes to cat people. 🙂
Kiersten says
I'm so glad I'm not alone in the cat songs, because Chris acts like I'm a crazy lady. And maybe I am, but not because of this!
Shirley says
The other cat people just aren't 'fessin up to it.
Kiersten says
Ha! That is probably true. 🙂
Laura (GotChocolate) says
Oreo the magic kiiiiiitty sleeps in his chaaaair!!!
Oops, sorry, enough of my singing about my cat. Yes, I do that too! As in, ALL the time! HA!
I really love this super easy recipe, especially since it has so few ingredients. PERFECT!!! Yummers!
Kiersten says
Ha! Now I'm going to have to steal that one...
Brenda Williams says
Wow when I saw the photo I thought it would be some "bunch of ingredients" recipe! I am amazed that there are so few items used to make something so yummy! Way to go.
Kiersten says
Nope, they are super easy! And you can pretty much top them with anything too. 🙂