Treating Yourself: Pizza

Pizza seems to be the Achilles heel for almost anyone who has ever struggled to maintain a healthy body mass. It's so GOOD. Every time we have pizza delivered, I go back for more, even when I'm no longer hungry. When we made our own, it was even worse. On one pizza, we would spread alfredo sauce liberally over the freshly-rolled pizza dough, then bury it with chicken, onions, olives and cheese. We would use red sauce on the other pizzas: on one, there was always a generous portion of ground beef, pepperoni, onions, olives, mushrooms and sometimes, sausage; on the other was Canadian bacon and pineapple.

The healthy choice was--you guessed it--C, the Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza--minus the crust, of course.

Whole wheat pizza crusts are a little harder to make than white flour pizza crusts, but I think they taste better. Whole wheat has a rich, nutty flavor that will enhance your other ingredients. Pizza, made with fresh vegetables and lean meat toppings on a whole wheat crust has been a staple of healthy eating for us. It's a great option, as long as your oven is working properly.

Ours is not.



We bought a cast iron skillet to cook our tortillas on. We reasoned that we should be able to do the same thing with a pizza crust. In many ways, it's easier than in an oven: on the stove top, when bubbles develop, they can be popped without opening the oven hatch. It's also far less likely that the crust will be doughey or burned, since you can monitor it more closely from the range top.

So here is last night's dinner for your viewing pleasure, weighing in at 466 calories:



Toppings include turkey pepperoni, Canadian bacon, fresh red onions, black olives, pineapple chunks, mushrooms, fresh bell peppers, Roma tomatoes and a quarter cup of fat free cheddar cheese.