As a kid, I remember being excited for my parents to go out to dinner because we would get to eat pizza with the babysitter. Seems like most childhood parties and celebrations involved pizza. But at least in my house, pizza was a treat. And rightfully so. White flour crust drowned in cheese.
This pizza recipe allows you to feel good about serving pizza any night of the week. And getting your kids involved in the chopping and topping process will make it more likely that they’ll actually eat the veggies. Homemade pizza of course takes more time than the frozen, boxed kind but with the availability of good quality whole wheat dough in markets today (I like the dough from Sunflower Market), prep time is cut down considerably. For those of you gluten free folks, gluten free crusts are available too. And if you don’t eat much dairy, the pizza really does taste good without the cheese (I know this from personal experience). Chopped pineapple is a nice, sweet topping to consider instead of the cheese. The great thing about this recipe is you can switch up the toppings each time you make it depending on your mood.
Here’s to eating pizza more often and feeling good about it!
Ingredients
Refrigerated Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (OR use gluten free pizza crust)
1/4c Pesto (You can make homemade pesto without cheese if you are dairy free)
1T Olive Oil
1 1/2c Spinach (chopped)
1c Roasted Tomatoes
1 Onion (chopped)
1 Red Bell Pepper (chopped)
1 Carton Mushrooms (sliced, approximately 1 1/2c)
Mozzarella Cheese (approximately 1c shredded)
Parmesan Cheese (approximately 1/2c shredded)
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out dough to make a 12-14” pizza. Let rest and rise while you chop and cook the veggies. Add oil to pan on medium high heat. Add onions, bell pepper and mushrooms, and sautee until soft and beginning to brown, approximately 10-12 minutes. Add roasted tomatoes and cook an additional 1 minute. Spread pesto on pizza dough. Top with spinach and then veggies. If you have more veggies than you want to use, save them for another use (burritos, veggie scramble, pasta, etc). Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until crust is golden brown, approximately 10-12 minutes.
Katie Jones MS, RD 