Thursday, August 16, 2012

As most people who know me know, I strive to eat as cleanly as I can.  That's not to say that I never have beer or wings or cake or whatever, but I try to eat the healthy stuff the majority of the time.

Those who know I try to eat that way, sometimes have the misapprehention that I can only have things like pizza very occasionally, because, well, pizza isn't exactly the healthiest. 

So what's a clean eater to DO?  Have pizza every few months?  Oh HECK NO!!  I can have pizza any time I like--I just make it myself!

Now you might be thinking, "Oh yeah right.  Healthy clean pizza.  Yum.  Not!"  But my friends, you would be so wrong!  Believe me, it's in the oven right now, and it smells divine!

A few tips and tricks before I give you the recipe--of course I'll give you the recipe!: 

*  Don't use crust high in saturated fat--use 100% whole grain pita rounds.  Don't open them up or anything, just use as-is.
*  Use decent-quality lower-fat cheese.  Mozzarella is relatively low in fat (compared to other cheeses), and if you can find a good one that's lower fat than that, you're golden.  I usually use Mozzaralissima, which just happens to be LESS expensive than my local store-bought brand.
*  Use lots of veggies!
*  If you like meat on your pizza, you may certainly still do so--just make sure to use lean meats like chicken, shrimp, smoked salmon, even sausage is fine, if you use lean turkey or chicken sausage.
*  Don't be fooled by pre-made pizza sauce.  There is easily 10x more sodium in the pre-made sauce, not to mention all the chemicals and preservatives.  Instead, buy a small can of tomato sauce, preferably no-salt-added, and season it up yourself! 

Clean and Delicious Pizza

1 whole grain pita--small for one serving, larg for two
1/2 cup grated mozzarella per serving
Tomato sauce (preferably no-salt-added), enough to cover the pita
Mushrooms and onions (or veggies of your choice--even fruit!)
Meat of your choice (or other protein source--I used tempeh.  You can get tempeh plain or in a variety of flavours), crumbled.
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Fresh ground black pepper
Dried oregano
Dried basil

1.  Heat oven to 350F.  Place rack in middle of oven
2.  Schmear tomato sauce on the pita--to your taste
3.  Sprinkle tomato sauce with seasonings
4.  Add shredded mozzarella
5.  Add vegetables and meat of your choice

Carefully put pizza directly on oven rack.  Make sure the edges are supported if you have a lot of toppings!

Cook for about 15-20 minutes, until the crust is as crunchy as you like it, the cheese is melted and the toppings are heated.

Remove pizza from oven when it's done, and let it sit for about 2 minutes.  It's much easier to slice hot pizza when it's not directly out of the oven!

Enjoy!  That's it!  Swear!

Don't feel you have to use the ingredients I used to make my pizza.  Go crazy!!

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