Friday night pizza was always a tradition in my house growing up; a large cheesy New York pizza with the best toppings and usually a few garlic knots or “pizza rolls” made an appearance to close out the week. I wish we had pizza here like we do back home where I grew up in New York, I love living in Massachussetts but pizza, bagels and good delis are all things you just can’t replicate here. Lately, I have been picking up that tradition and making my own pizzas on our pizza stone as a little Friday evening treat. It’s no New York slice, but I experiment a bit each week and have been getting better at making a quality pizza at home. Last week I was scanning the fridge and doing a survey of leftover ingredients to see what I could make for a quick meal, and lots of my pizza toppings were stacked up begging for a little love.
Like most of ideas, I a little high-calorie light bulb went off above my head and I thought: what if I tossed all of my leftover pizza ingredients into a salad … and then added garlic knots on top to make sure it’s really not healthy at all. The only way you can get me to eat a salad is to make sure the lettuce and veggies are masked in cheese and come with a carb-y dipping side. It came out so tasty, topped with pepperoni and olives, peppers and onions, and chunks of provolone cheese. The garlic knots add a little extra oomph to the salad (and I snacked on a few extra on the side, because why not?). Get the full recipe below: 
- Pizza dough
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp of parsley, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp of butter, melted
- Mixed greens
- Pepperoni, chopped
- Kalamata or black olives
- Provolone cheese, cubed
- Red pepper, thinly sliced
- Red onion, thinly sliced
- Parmesan cheese
- Italian dressing or Oil and Vinegar
- Start by making the garlic knots; pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Melt butter and combine with chopped parsley and minced garlic.
- Break pizza dough into small balls, a little bit smaller than a golf ball, and roll in the garlic-butter mixture before placing into a baking dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until they turn gold brown, remove from oven and cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, assemble the salad by tossing pepperoni, olives, cheese, red pepper and onion with mixed greens.
- Top with a dusting of parmesan cheese, and serve with warm garlic knots and an Italian dressing of your choice.
This looks SO delicious!! You are killing it with your posts as of late…I’ve bookmarked all of them. 🙂
Yay! Thanks miss! xo
Pinned this one too – it would be great for serving a crowd….everyone could line up and make their own salad! That makes more sense than a stack of pizzas where “somebody” will always have a “problem” with at least one topping! 🙂 (We had Friday night pizza parties too, when kids were young – there was always a pile of discarded pepperoni, green pepper, or mushrooms at each daughters’ place – it drove me crazy!)