Being Italian and from New York, I get weird looks when I tell people I’m not really a pizza person. I just think I had one too many greasy, slimy pepperoni slices when I was younger and I fell out of love with a yankee diet staple. Now that I’m older there are a few exceptions to this distrust of pizza, thanks in part to friends forcing their love of it on me:

1.) Man Pizza – A BBQ chicken, bacon, and mushroom pizza that my best friend and I ate far too often in college.

2.) Zesty Veggie Pizza from Cici’s – Who knows why? It’s different and I pretend it’s healthy.

3.) The Sun-Dried Tomato & Arugula pizza from Studio Movie Grill.

In case you don’t know what Studio Movie Grill is, SMG is a movie theatre that serves you food while you watch your film. They also have nights where they have food and drink specials, my favorite being All You Can Eat Pizza Wednesdays. Alas, my 3rd exception to the no-pizza rule is on their menu so I shamefully eat as much of it as possible. A few weeks ago I realized I didn’t have to wait until Wednesdays to cram all of this doughy goodness into my mouth. I tried it out at home but added grilled chicken on top for some extra protein. I was impressed with how spot-on it tasted since I was just going off of sense memory.

Recipe: Grilled Chicken and Arugula Pizza

What You Need:

• 1 cup sliced grilled chicken, cooked 
• 1 cup arugula
• 4 oz feta cheese
• 4 oz. sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 pizza crust
• What To Do:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F.

  2. In a small saucepan, heat balsamic vinegar and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and glaze begins to thicken.

  3. Lightly spread glaze on pizza crust.

  **It is very important to only do a thin layer. Even though you’ll probably have glaze left over, if you put it on too heavily, it will soak through the crust and make your pizza permanently stick to your pizza pan — I know from experience**

  4. Top the glaze with feta, tomatoes, and arugula.

  5. Evenly distribute your chicken pieces onto the pizza.

  6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.