Healthy Veggie Pizza

For diner last night, after walking 5 miles with Katie, I decided to make some pizza. I had some leftover sauteed veggies and a whole grain crust I bought from Trader Joe’s and wanted to try.

I mixed the veggies with some freezer “Hide the lentils” tomato sauce from the Eat, Drink and Be Vegan cookbook that I love! It ended up being delicious! I can’t wait to buy the crust again, even Brady gave it two thumbs up!

  

Leftover Lentil sauce from the freezer

Before the oven – notice the piece of just cheese for Brady to sample.

Done and served with salad

I will be buying this crust again and I highly recommend it for anyone who has tried wheat crusts and found them to be too chewy or not crunchy enough. Plus this is super easy and mess-free!

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Pizza on the Grill

Guest Post

Tom, my cousin’s husband (who I refer to as my cousin, but they like me to clarify that they are not cousins who got married) 🙂 made the most delicious pizza on the grill. It was quite simple, here are the steps he followed:

1. We went the the Giant Eagle bakery and bought 1 lb of Italian bread dough.
2. Cut dough in 2 equal balls. Knead dough out into discs with fingers leaving edges a little thicker and both sides well floured.  
3. Heat grill to 500 degrees then cut flame to 1/2-3/4 flame (to prevent flame burn) right when dough goes on.  
4. Put dough on grate for 20 seconds…then rotate 90 degrees for another 20 seconds…then flip over for 30 seconds and pull off.  
5. We put the toppings on the crosshatched side…we put olive oil over whole crust, then Mid’s Homestyle pizza sauce topped with pre-sauted onions, thin sliced red, orange, and yellow peppers, mozzarella, and fresh basil…one I also put thin sliced chicken breast on top.  
6. We then put it back on the grill (@ 500 degrees) for about 4-5 min.
7. It was delicious! I got the tips on grill temp and time from an article in last month’s Men’s Health.  
8. Enjoy…

The process…

The final product…

Not quite big enough for pizza yet…

Thanks Tom!!

🙂

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Pizza Pizza!

Last night our good friends John and Ashley came over for dinner! It was pouring rain and gross outside so we decided against the cookout and opted for make your own pizzas! John and Ash brought a delicious bottle of Riesling, that tasted like summer!

While we sipped, we made two great pizzas – a his and a hers. Then we started on the sides while the pizzas were cooking!

Classic Tomato Basil

Jen and Kate’s Famous Strawberry Salad:

Boy’s Pizza

White crust with black olives, pepperoni, avocado and mozzarella.

Girl’s Pizza

Wheat crust with zucchini, squash, broccoli and goat cheese.

John and Ash brought dessert too – angel food cake with fresh berries and whipped cream!

It was a great, relaxing night of catching up with two of our favorite friends!!

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What didn’t go on our pizza?

9 miles down today. It’s getting closer and closer to our 1/2 marathon – the Country Music 1/2 in Nashville on April 25! The run today was actually much easier than I expected. We did 8 one day last week and it wasn’t too bad, but this seemed easier. Who knows why, but I am not complaining.

So when we make pizza, anything in the fridge is fair game for a topping. As you can see this was a veggie lovers dream and I felt like we were missing a few key toppings (mushrooms/onions).

To our pizza we added:

• tomato sauce
• fat free feta
• broccoli
• avocado
• peppers
• black olives
• strawberries (that was Brady’s doing, and they were pretty good!!)
• TONS of lettuce, when it came out of the oven.

Covering my pizza with lettuce is my favorite way to eat it. I used to be ashamed of my weird habit, but now I embrace it. I will post an action shot next time we have pizza!!

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Asian Pizza (rewind to Friday)

Friday was a busy day! It started with a morning workout and then a long/quick flying day at school.

Breakfast: Fruit and Oatmeal

Lunch: Leftover chickpea/blackbean burger over spinach with a BIG bag of microwave 94%ff Kettle corn!

Snacks: hmm.. there was an apple at school, some chips and salsa before dinner and I don’t remember what else!

I was really happy we had no plans at all for the evening, so when Brady’s brother, Tyler, called to see what we were doing for dinner we were excited to have him! Here is what we whipped up!

Asian Pizza

• 1 loaf of whole wheat bread dough
• mix of Asian sauces (hoisin, soy, ginger, teriyaki, szcheuan)
• 1 cooked chicken breast
• 1 can of mixed vegetables
• a little cheese
• 1 can of diced water chesnuts
• 1/2 c. chopped black olives (yuck!)
• a little leftover avocado

1. Roll out thawed bread dough.
2. Simmer water chesnuts and vegetables in Asian sauce until warm and coated in sauce.
3. Cover the pizza with Asian sauces, cooked chicken, veggies, avocado, olives and cheese.
4. Bake at 425 for about 35 min. or until crust is done to your liking!
5. ENJOY!

*Brady requested with this pizza we go with white dough next time. The tomato/veggie pizzas go better with whole wheat. I didn’t mind it, but I thought it should be noted!

  

Today has been painting day! I will have before and after pics for later!!

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Make your own pizza night!

Yesterday we did a lot of cleaning around my parents house.  I got rid of things from middle school and we took care of our Christmas stuff that was lying around. We cleaned up to get ready for the cleaning lady, and then she canceled – bummer!!

After a 5 mile run with Brady, I had a bowl of oatmeal.  It was warm and filling with a huge scoop of almond butter!

Around 5 pm, my mom and I went to the club to take a step aerobics class that I used to do all the time in high school.  It was a great workout and between running 10 miles and step class, my legs are feeling it!  I am so glad to get back into it!  While we worked out, Brady, my dad, Kevin and my cousin’s husband Tom played paddle.

When they got home, we had a huge dinner of make your own pizza.  Our toppings included:

• artichokes
• spinach
• olives
• chicken
• shrimp
• mozzarella
• feta
• pepperoni
• pesto sauce
• tomato sauce
• tomatoes
• mushrooms
• onions

Here are some pics!

Salad with avacado, tomato, peppers, romaine and spinach.

Whole wheat crust with veggies, feta and parm!

Pepperoni, chicken, black olives, mozzarella and tomato sauce.

White pizza with tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions.

BBQ chicken with shrimp and mozzarella

Pepperoni with veggies and mozzarella

This dinner was so delicious!  I would not recommend it with lots of company because the presentation of the pizza is a little messy when it is all cut!

HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE!!

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Portabella Pizza

So I can’t remember where I left off! The days are flying by and I can’t believe we only have 9 more days of school until Christmas break!

This pizza was great! Very filling and very veggie! You could add meat to it or just make it veggie- you can’t go wrong either way!

Portabella Pizzas

• 2 portobella mushrooms
• organic tomato sauce
• artichoke hearts
• Morningstar Vegan Griller (or any veggie burger)
• parm.

1. Wash and clean the portabellas

2. Layer on artichokes, sauce, veggie burger and salt and pepper

3. Bake until bubbly at 400. Add parm and enjoy!

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