Pesto Sausage and Kale Pizza

With all the smack talk about Giada's bounteous assets, I must admit that 90% of my jesting is driven by pure jealousy. Have you seen her new TV show, Giada at Home? Talk about living in luxury. Giada's home is the epitome of the gorgeous seaside house I'd like to have one day, but probably never will. Ok, I'm also jealous of her big smile. There, I've said it.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can better concentrate on food. Hubby and I have a lot of favorites, but this pizza is certainly up there. It's perfect in that it can be as easy or as complicated as you wish. We've made this with both homemade dough and Trader Joe's dough. The same goes for the sauce. As much as I love making my dough from scratch on the weekends, TJ's refrigerated pizza dough is so yummy & so cheap that it's hard to even think of stressing myself out about how I can get dough to rise while I'm at work.


If you're lucky enough to have a Henry's in your area, please get up and go try their market fresh sausage, homemade each morning. They have quite a few different flavors and our favorites have been the pesto, garlic & herb and sweet Italian sausages. Cooking the sausage in the sauce helps flavor both the sauce and the meat.

*Just a tip for TJ's pizza dough: be sure to prebake it before putting on sauce and toppings. It can get soggy otherwise.

Pesto Sausage and Kale Pizza

Trader Joe's Whole Wheat pizza dough or homemade dough
1 bunch lacinato kale
olive oil
2 large links uncooked chicken or turkey pesto sausage, casings removed
pinch of Kosher salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon of water
1 1/4 cup pasta sauce (I like to use a chunky sauce; use more if you like a lot of sauce)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
If using TJ's pizza dough, allow it to rest for about 15-20 minutes on a floured surface. On a floured surface, roll out pizza dough. Mine never ends up in a perfect circle, so use your creativity :)

Wash lacinato kale thoroughly and pull leaves off of thick stems. Tear apart into smaller pieces.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and break up links. Once sausage is browned, but not fully cooked, add pasta sauce and allow to simmer.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add lacinato kale and allow to sit for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt and garlic. Toss the kale and add 1 tbsp of water. Cover and let steam for about 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat once done.

Pre-cook pizza crust for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Spread sausage pasta sauce on pizza dough. Place kale on top and sprinkle entire pizza with mozzarella cheese.

Return pizza to oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is thoroughly melted .