Tuscan Spinach and Garlic Chicken Bread

I like to cook and I like to shop cheap (don't we all!). I have three favorite stores I visit when I intend to load up on groceries for extended cooking: Aldi's, Dollar Tree, and The Dutch Country (better known in my area as the Scratch and Dent!). A few weeks ago while food shopping I ran across a pre-made pizza at Aldi's called Tuscan Chicken Flatbread Pizza...I loved it!! It was a mixture of spinach, white sauce, chicken, and garlic and it was DELISH!

I have a tendency to try and copy something I run across that I really like, sometimes because all of the above stores aren't close enough to just hop in the car and go pick something up and sometimes...well, just because I want to! So after trying this pizza and wishing I had bought more than one, I decided I would create my own. Because I do cook quite a bit I had a lot of the items already on hand so it was worth my effort to give it a try.

I can tell you my first attempt did involve a flatbread crust and it was okay, but there just wasn't enough seasoning to suit me...it needed more garlic, so when I ran across these split garlic loaves at Walmart on the markdown rack I immediately thought "Tuscan"! I tend to be a "this and that" kind of cook..I don't always follow a recipe and when I'm creating I rarely write something down, I just store it away in the 'ol memory bank for further use (one of these days I'll have to quit that!). But this particular creation is one that I think is pretty much open..if you don't like tuscan, do pepperoni, or vegetarian, or just whatever!

Here's my version of a Tuscan Bread Pizza:

1 pkg. split loaf garic bread

1 chicken breast cubed (or use canned chicken)   

1 bottle of Classic Alfredo Sauce

1/2 pkg. frozen chopped spinach well drained

2-3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 of a small red onion chopped

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

3-4 baby portabella mushrooms sliced

1/2 teaspon classic pesto

1/2 cup white cracked pepper cheese crumbled (I found mine at the Dollar Tree)

1/2- 1 cp shredded pizza cheese

Dried Italian herbs or parsley to sprinkle

2 tbls. olive oil or butter

These measurements aren't precise, you can use as much or as little as you want, or leave out what you don't like and go from there. Heat the olive oil/butter and add cubed chicken and minced garlic; saute for a few minutes and then add the onions, and pepper and continue until chicken is fully cooked. Remove from heat and stir in the pesto sauce and spinach...let set while you prepare your loaves. I layered my ingredients like this: alfredo sauce (as much as you'd like), the sauteed mix, sliced mushrooms, seasonings, and cheeses, . Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until well heated and cheese is melted.

It smells sooo good when it comes out of the oven and tastes even better! Because the hubs was not impressed with my first attempt on the flatbread, I took my second half loaf and used pepperoni with my homemade pizza sauce and all the other ingredients rather than alfredo and spinach...it was also very good. You can also add a second breast to the mix and up your veggies to make both loaves...eat one and wrap the second one for the freezer to have later. They do make a good size serving, enough that hubs and I ate til we were full and then I sent the rest home with the daughter for lunch the next day!