Crust
Putting the word "healthy" into
pizza starts with the crust. Most standard pizzas your kids are
eating is full of nutritionally useless white gluey flour.
Did you know that white flour spikes blood sugar faster than white
sugar? That makes white flour very addictive. The fast
alternative is using whole grain pita shells. All grocery stores
should carry them in the bread area. They are a perfect size for
making individual pizza masterpieces. Look for the thin ones, they have
half the calories than the thick ones, 70 calories compared to about 150
calories.
Now you may have to take some
searching and reading the ingredients time to find better food
for your family to eat. But before you know it you will
familiarize yourself with a whole new part of the grocery store.
It's worth the effort. If you cannot find the thin type of whole
grain pita shells, don't panic, the more common thicker ones will work
just fine. Just make sure they are whole grain.
Pizza Sauce
Canned pizza sauce can be found on the shelf beside the spaghetti sauce.
Again, read the ingredients. Try to find a brand that is not full
of unpronounceable chemicals and oil, unless it is olive oil,
preferably, extra virgin olive oil.
If your really ambitious, you can
always make your own pizza sauce. Blend five Roma tomatoes with
two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and season with salt, garlic
and Italian Spice, to taste. To be honest, we just use
the canned stuff.
Cheese
May I introduce you to goats cheese. A goat's
digestive system is much closer to ours than a cow's, therefore their
milk is more digestible for humans. And yes, you can buy
mozzarella goats cheese. If you don't tell them nether will I.
The stuff tastes great! There is also soy cheese, but again read
the ingredients. Just because it's soy doesn't mean it's healthy.
If you absolutely must use regular
cheese, go easy on it. Buy stronger tasting cheese, like cheddar
so you can use less. Parmesan is great too because a little goes a
long way.
Toppings
Now we get to the fun stuff. I am going to give you a list of
great pizza toppings but I am sure you can think of many more. You
can put just about anything on pizza, creating a mélange of unique
flavors and bright color. You can dice your toppings large or
small. The rule of thumb is strong flavored toppings like onion,
garlic and hot pepper should be diced finely, were tomato or mushroom
can be sliced.
Here is our top ten list:
tomatoes
onions
black & green olives
mushrooms
pineapple
all types of peppers
soy pepperoni
broccoli
spinach
feta cheese
Building and Baking
Prepare all the toppings ahead of time
. Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit. Have the pitas laid out on
cookie sheets, two will fit per sheet. You can fit two sheets in
your oven. Allow the family to build their own pizza's, ladies
before gentlemen. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is
melted. Expect demands for seconds!
Suggestions: I like a little cheese under and on top of my toppings,
it helps hold the mountain together.
Shopping List: