Healthier Than Average Pizza

Do you ever crave some really awesome pizza? Me too! Just because I'm a dietitian doesn't mean I was born without taste buds. When I want to go out for pizza, I enjoy Pizza Picasso in North Scottsdale. They have an awesome gluten-free crust that is dense and delicious, and my favorite pizza there has a whole bunch of interesting veggies and ricotta cheese. It's divine. When I don't want to spend a bunch of money on gourmet pizza, however, I make some at home.

I haven't found a great gluten-free or sprouted wheat crust, so I just use Trader Joe's whole wheat pre-made dough. Surprisingly, there aren't that many ingredients, and it does have some whole wheat flour in it, so it's at least a little healthier than your average pizza crust. The beauty of making pizza at home is that you get to choose your toppings. I'm a fan of topping-heavy pizza, the kind you can barely pick up it's so full of goodies. Some of my favorite toppings are mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers, eggplant, broccolini, goat cheese, and chicken sausage (in any combination). It's also fun to make a caprese-style pizza with buffalo mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, and fresh basil. I might even do a BBQ chicken pizza every once in a while. The one I'm showing below is pretty basic: onions, mushrooms, and chicken sausage. (Needless to say, it was my husband's idea...I usually pile on a few more veggies!)

Start by turning on the oven. This dough requires 450 degrees.

To save money (and be sure of the ingredients added), I make my own pizza sauce. It's pretty simple and much cheaper than the premade sauce. Pick up a 6-ounce can of organic tomato paste.

For one pizza, put about half of a can's worth of tomato paste in a bowl and add water, stirring to blend. I can't tell you exactly how much to add, as I do it by "feel," but you want the sauce thinner than marinara sauce but not so watered down that it won't stick to the pizza. Add spices to taste as desired. I have a "pizza blend" spice variety, but you can use garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano or any Italian spice you can think of. Also consider adding a little stevia or raw sugar, or maybe a bit of olive oil. I also stir in sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Next, prep your ingredients. My mushrooms came sliced (yes, a lazier way...but easy on a busy weeknight), and I just chopped some onions and precooked chicken sausage. Here are the beautiful chopped onions.

Next, prep your dough. The Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough comes premixed and refrigerated. All I do is roll the dough out onto a baking sheet with some whole wheat flour. It doesn't make the most beautiful circle because it does not stretch easily, but the finished product has a nice "classic" crust thickness. Here it is topped with pizza sauce.

I like to add a little shredded organic mozzarella first:

Next, add the toppings:

Add a little more cheese (I like an organic Italian cheese blend) and pop in the oven. You'll see here that I was making 2 pizzas, hence the excessive amount of chopped onions seen above.

After about 15 minutes, the pizza is ready, with bubbling cheese and a soft crust:

Doesn't this look good? Now, make sure to round out the meal with a green salad filling half of your plate. Top with some homemade olive oil-based dressing, and sprinkle raw parmesan on top:

Now, that's better than delivery, isn't it? Enjoy!

*M*