The SSB Late Night Pizza

I'll admit it - I have a "Secret Single Behavior," or SSB.

The concept of the SSB originated from an episode of Sex and the City. It's a behavior or habit you have as a single person that you don't want your partner know about because it's potentially embarrassing. For Carrie, it was eating a stack of saltines with grape jelly over the sink while reading fashion magazines. For me, it's cooking and eating late at night.

Call me crazy, but I do sometimes turn into a version of Martha Stewart at midnight. When the late night munchies hit, simple snacks aren't going to cut it. Late night cravings for me center around foods that are hot and soothing - like scrambled eggs on toast, or a cheese Quesadilla, or pizza. All foods that require cooking.

I also have a ritual around my late night munchies. I'm on my feet the entire time. I stand while I prep. I do the dishes while the food cooks. When the food is ready I eat it standing over the sink, or pacing the kitchen. It's as if I think staying on my feet will somehow burn more calories, making eating right before bed time just a little less horrendous for my body.

I'm not sure how my late night munchies habit is going to work when I am no longer a single person living by myself. The first time the Dude awakes to see me in the kitchen making pizza, he's going to wonder why I'm cooking at midnight. And then he's going to realize that I eat, sometimes what might be equivalent to a meal, right before bed time, over the sink.

I'm going to hazard a guess that he's going to think this is highly bizarre. And then he's going to wonder how I'm not 300 pounds.

But since I am still happily unmarried and living in my own apartment where there is no Dude that will wake up and catch me in my SSB, I'm going to enjoy my late night munchies habit worry-free. Tonight, the craving was for sausage pizza. And, at 11.40PM at night, I made some.

The SSB Late Night Pizza
Most of my late night munchies favorite foods are easy to prepare and use ingredients that I have on hand in the fridge or pantry. This late night pizza utilizes Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Lavash Bread for the crust. The result is a thin crust pizza not unlike the type you'll find as a Happy Hour appetizer.

Ingredients
Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Lavash Bread
Pasta sauce
Fully Cooked Jimmy Dean's Turkey Sausage Crumbles - found in the refrigerated aisle near the ham and breakfast sausage
Mozzarella Cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray.
2. Lay a slice of the lavash bread onto the cookie sheet. Spread pasta sauce onto the lavash bread. The amount of sauce you use is really up to you and what you like. For 1 piece of the bread,  I usually use about 1/4 cup of sauce.
3. Sprinkle the sausage over the sauce.
4. Top with mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake in the oven for approximately 10-12 minutes. Cheese should be melted and slightly browned on the top.
6. Cool for about 10 minutes, and then slice into squares.

Tips
You can basically top this quick pizza with anything you have on hand. I've made these with just cheese, or with thinly sliced tomatoes and basil.

This pizza is best eaten within 30 minutes to an hour after it's come out of the oven. I've found that reheating the pizza in the microwave doesn't restore the crust's crispness. If you need to reheat leftovers, it's best to wrap the leftovers in foil and then re-heat in the oven at a low temperature (200 - 250 degrees).