French Bread Pizza

If you grew up in a big family, this was probably a staple. It was yummy and cheaper than pizza delivery. This particular recipe yields a vegetarian (not vegan) pizza, but you can mess around with the toppings a lot. Any combo that would taste good on a regular pizza probably tastes good on French bread pizza. Just make sure to butter the bread, or it could get soggy.

FRENCH BREAD PIZZA
1 loaf French bread, sliced in half lengthwise
enough butter to cover each cut surface of bread
a lot of Jack cheese, shredded
2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced thin
about 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced thin
a coupla green chiles, seeded and sliced thin
1 onion, sliced thin
¼ - ½ cup hulled sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the cut surfaces of the French bread and put the halves side by side, butter side up, on a large cookie sheet. To each French bread half, add a thin layer of Jack cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, green chilies and onion, then cover all with another thick layer of cheese. Sprinkle sunflower seeds over all. Slide cookie sheet into hot oven and bake 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bread is toasty. Cut French bread pizza into slices and serve. Makes 8-10 servings depending on how thick you cut the slices.

ALTERNATE METHOD: put the halves of French bread under a broiler briefly, just to toast the cut surfaces. Rub each cut surface with a clove of garlic and spread with a small amount of pizza sauce or a good red spaghetti sauce. Proceed as above.

Contributor: Karin Buck