Every now and then I come up with a flavor combination that just works. This pizza is one of those. We have a spot in the cafeteria at work that will do to order personal pizzas and on one of those days when I forgot lunch, I grabbed a pizza and came up with this combination. I then recreated it at home and its just as good.

Usually I make my own crust using a Rick Bayless recipe for the dough. But I was going for simple here, so Pillsbury to the rescue – instant pizza dough. The Rick Bales recipe is better, but it’s been a hectic month (yes, I know it’s still early).

Sauce is pesto. I went with a classic basil pesto with almonds, garlic, cheese and lemon for the sauce. I like the really garlic-y nature of the pesto and made it a little thinner than I usually do so it would spread easily.

Toppings are simple – spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. That’s it, nothing else. Handful of spinach leaves and some chopped sun-dried tomatoes gives you a bright, yet earthy flavor. I thought about kale for the homemade version since I have so much in the garden, but really, the spinach is best.

Cheese should always be classic – mozzarella and a little Parmesan. I did try with gruyere once, but the classic pizza cheese works best.

The best compliment I got on this pizza came from a student and a coworker who each asked for a piece and then exclaimed how good it was despite having no meat on it. For die-hard meat eaters, that was high praise indeed.