Pizza get’s a bad rap. Dough & cheese, can’t be healthy right?
While it should not be a daily indulgence, pizza can certainly be a part of your healthy weekly menu especially if it’s homemade. And if you have the dough already made, your pizza will be ready in less time than it would be if you called your local pizza shop.
With all of the possible toppings, you’ll never have the same pizza twice!
Thursday’s dinner was all about the pizza. Instead of just sauce and cheese, I made two types, mushroom with goat cheese and ham & cheese. Both were so good but seriously, the ham and cheese version tasted just like a grilled cheese sandwich! Served with a side of green veggies, this meal was nutritionally complete, satisfying and very tasty.
Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pizza Ham & Cheese Pizza
The best thing about homemade pizza is that there really is no recipe, you can create whatever you want using whatever happens to be in the fridge! That being true, below is how these two pies came together.
16 oz whole wheat pizza dough Flour Olive OilMushroom & Goat Cheese Pizza
3/4 cup Weeknight Marinara Sauce 4 cremini mushrooms, sliced 1 tbsp goat cheese, crumbled Olive Oil Salt PepperPreheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide pizza dough in half and roll out to desired thickness. Spread on sauce leaving a small border around the edges (you can drizzle the crust with some olive oil and salt too). In a small skillet heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add slices mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, turning over at least once. Place mushrooms on the pizza and sprinkle with goat cheese. Place in oven for 20 – 25 minutes.
Ham & Cheese Pizza
3/4 cups Weeknight Marinara Sauce2 slices Canadian Bacon (deli ham is good too), cubed
1 1/2 oz. cheddar cheese, thinly sliced Salt Pepper
Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the second half of the pizza dough. Spread on sauce leaving a small border around the edges (you can drizzle the crust with some olive oil and salt too). Arrange bacon and then cheese on top of pizza. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
I ate 2 slices of the ham & cheese pizza (pictured with a bite missing!) and then went back for a small slice of mushroom and goat cheese. All served with some greens, of course. Another good thing about pizza, it reheats well for lunch the next day (or is good cold!)
Tips & Tricks
On buying vs. making pizza dough
Homemade pizza dough is definitely fun to make and I suggest you make a few big batches and freeze to have on hand. However, in case you don’t have any homemade on hand during the week, Trader Joe’s makes a great whole wheat dough that only costs $.99 so stock up while you are there!
** Sorry about the late post (this was from last week).
With long work days and over an hour long commute home, I often don’t have time to make extravagant meals during the week. Instead I rely on a handful or so of quick & healthy meals that I can be sitting down to enjoy in less than 30 minutes and can modify depending on what I’m craving or what’s in the fridge.
