Super Easy Healthy Pizza
Pizza and healthy are two words that really don’t go in the same sentence often. Many of us love it (myself very much included) but we also know it’s not the healthiest “food group” for us.
Why? If there’s any question about this, the short answer is we’re eating too much bread (high carb, low nutritional value), too much cheese (high fat, small nutritional value), and often too much meat (high fat and can contain carcinogens if eating cured meats like pepperoni).
That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news. Pizza can become a healthier staple in your diet if you’re willing to make a few small shifts. It can also become a delicious and nutritious meal.
In a perfect world, we’d make our own cauliflower, whole wheat or gluten free crust, we’d add our homemade tomato sauce and a little bit of our favorite cheese before throwing on some farm fresh vegetables and maybe a little grass-fed meat, but who really lives here? And I did say super easy pizza.
Pick up a thin crust frozen cheese pizza from the supermarket. That is easy. Our favorites are Newman’s cauliflower and regular crusts. Then make it your own by adding healthier ingredients.
Add vegetables. You can put anything you want here, e.g., mushrooms, thinly sliced onions, peppers, olives. tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, fresh basil, etc. Some dried basil and oregano give it extra flavor. If you like heat, add red pepper flakes. You can even throw on a little bit of meat if you’re craving it but try to use uncured pepperoni or grass-fed beef for a healthier option.
Ham and prosciutto are cured meat so are not great options, and sausage is filled will all sorts of things I’d rather not think about. While these meats might taste great, they will take away from the health factor you are trying to improve upon with your pizza.
And the final question: What about cheese? The temptation of course is to add more, but the beauty of the premade crust is that there is already a perfectly reasonable amount of cheese on it. Your pizza remains healthy if you resist the urge to add additional cheese!
Enjoy some guilt-free pizza and please share some of your favs if you’re so inclined. I’d love to hear from you!
