BBQ Chicken & Bacon Pizza

I was racking my brain all day yesterday about what to make for dinner.  I had boneless chicken breasts that were defrosted at home and I wanted to try something different.  I also had about 6 slices of bacon and a quarter of a huge vidalia onion left that needed to be used up before they went bad and 3/4 of a bag of reduced fat colby jack cheese.  What can I make with all of these ingredients.  My first thought was a bacon and cheese stuffed chicken breast with sauteed onion in wine sauce.  Good option but I tend to make stuffed chicken breast somewhat often and really wanted something a little easier and faster.  Then all of a sudden, BBQ chicken pizza popped into my head.  I could run to the store on my way home and pick up a ball of dough (I usually prefer to make my own but in a pinch the prepackaged dough from the store really works) and I had plenty of BBQ sauce in the house.  I could serve it with a nice salad and it would be a great dinner.  Meanwhile we started watching Inception last night and the salad never got made but the pizza turned out great and I will definitely be making it again.

Joe is becoming quite the home bartender and made some great drinks to go with it so all in all it was a great night!

BBQ Chicken & Bacon Pizza
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

2 small boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 medium vidalia onion, thinly sliced
6 slices bacon cut into pieces (I find that my kitchen shears work best for cutting uncooked bacon)
1/3 cup BBQ sauce (we only use Sweet Baby Rays in my house and I highly recommend it)
1 ball pizza dough, at room temperature (I used whole wheat)
2 cups reduced fat colby jack cheese
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
1 avocado, sliced (optional)

Direction:

In a medium skillet over medium high heat cook the bacon pieces until crispy.  Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate.  Save 1 tbsp of the bacon drippings and discard the rest.  Cook sliced onions in reserved bacon drippings until soft and brown, 7-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and place on plate with bacon

In a separate skillet, heat olive oil.  Season chicken strips with salt and pepper and cook in olive oil, about 10 minutes, turning once.  Remove from pan and let cool slightly.  When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred into bite size pieces.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Put a small amount of flour on your hands and begin working the dough into a circular shape, about 12" in diameter, working from the middle out, pulling the dough evenly.  If the dough starts to get sticky, add a little more flour to your hands.  Place dough circle on a pizza stone.  Place BBQ sauce on pizza dough spreading it out with the back of a ladle, leaving a half inch sauce free around the edges.  Spread about half of the cheese over the BBQ sauce.  Sprinkle chicken, bacon and onions on top of cheese.  Top with remaining half of the cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Let stand for 3-5 minutes before serving. Cut into slices and top each slice with a slice of avocado if desired.