Pizza || Lightened Up

Talk about food rut. My name is Ashley, and I'm a pizza-haulic. But you already know this about me. We're not talking Domino's or Little Caesar's. No. Just like sandwiches, there are so many different ways to get my fix.

And the fastest + easiest way to lighten up a pie is by thinning out the crust and topping with roasted veggies.

Exhibit A:

Here we have . . .

• 2 poblano peppers 
• 1 large yellow squash
• 1 medium cooking onion
• pinch salt + pepper 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• (and I added 1/2 cup garbanzos)

For the crust . . . 

I made a half batch of Jamie Oliver's pizza dough (full recipe calls for 7 cups flour, but we've found when using white-whole wheat and halving it, 3 cups is usually enough versus 3.5) and divided it into THREE sections. (Each is about a cup of flour.)

To make the crust thin + crispy, it works best to let the dough rise fully, punch down and then refrigerate overnight . . . and then take out for about an hour or two before use.


Sauce + Cheese . . .

• I used 1/2 cup of our Boozy + Bold Tomato Sauce, without the booze. No substitution either. Just left it out.
• Then a healthy 1/2 cup of Colby-Jack cheese sprinkled on top. Maybe another sprinkle for good measure.

Putting it together . . . 

1. With the oven preheated to 400 degrees F, I just roasted the veggies for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they were browned.
2. I upped the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and put our baking stone inside to warm up.
3. I rolled out the dough onto a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin to get it really flat and then transferred it to the stone and baked for around 2 minutes.
4. I flipped the dough over and then spread out my sauce, topped with the roasted veggies, and finished with the cheese.
5. Baked for between 11-13 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Then we cut the pizza in half, topped with some hot sauce, and it was gone in no time at all!

I don't plan on giving calorie breakdowns for all my recipes now, but a.) I've been keeping up my meal diary and b.) it's been a request I've received (overwhelming, actually) in the past. Anyway, I was surprised this meal came in so "good" calorie-wise (even though this isn't EXACT, like I over-shot the cheese -- but I tried getting as much info in there as possible). Because it's pizza. It's something I eat all the time. And it's pretty darned healthy.

Another food rut I'll happily fall into. Especially with our CSA produce season upon us. So many options for roasted veggies -- maybe even mushrooms. And one of my goals this summer is to make my own mozzarella cheese.

Have you found a healthier way to eat more of something you love?

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