Healthy Pizza Recipes

The blog I wrote for http://www.care2.com/greenliving/ this past week is titled Thinking Out Of The Pizza Box and I continue here with additional healthy pizza recipes.

However, before we get to the recipes let's take a look at what excess cheese and refined wheat flour does to your digestive system. For many people they are difficult to digest due to their refined nature, but they also create an excess of mucus in the system. Now, a certain amount of mucus helps to lubricate the internal body, but when there is excess that cannot be eliminated through the bowels it makes its way up into the lungs. This results in those lovely hacking, coughing spasms you may have experienced; from there it rises to the sinus in hopes of being eliminated through the nose. An overabundance of mucus congests the sinus cavity creating eventual inflammation and, well you know, pain.

Colds can be one way your body gets rid of a lot of that congestion. All your orifices open up for the occasion and out comes the fluids, from your nose, eyes, pores, and anus. It is your body’s cry for help, as in “please stop eating processed, homogenized cheese, milk, and yogurt; and for crying out loud stop with the white refined flour already, I cannot do my work properly!”

Well, now, that having been said, let's move on to the recipes. Notice there is not much cheese used here, but these pizza's are big on flavor. Substitute favorite ingredients as you deem necessary and let me know some of the creative ways you have adapted pizza to your diet.

Arugula Pesto on Spelt Crust

Yield: 4 – 6 servings

3 cups fresh Arugula

1/2 cup roasted walnuts

2 clove garlic

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

1 large spelt pizza crust

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

2. Combine ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

3. Brush the edges of a Spelt pizza crust with olive oil.

4. Spread a thin layer of the pesto across the crust.

5. Bake on a baking stone about 12 minutes or until browned.

6. Remove from oven and allow to sit on the stone another 3 -5 minutes.

7. Serve while hot.

Italian Herb Individual Pizza

Yield: 1 serving

Olive oil - spray

2 tablespoons tomato sauce

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1/3 cup cannellini beans

1/4 cup Romano cheese

4 plum tomatoes, sliced

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1/3 cup broccoli florets, lightly cooked

2 tablespoons capers

4 anchovies

1 spelt pizza crust (individual size)

1. Lightly spray the spelt pizza crust with olive oil.

2. Spread tomato sauce on top.

3. Sprinkle the oregano and basil on top of the tomato sauce.

4. Layer the cannellini beans, plum tomato slices and broccoli florets.

5. Place the cheese, pine nuts and capers over the entire pizza.

6. Arrange the anchovies decoratively on top.

7. Place in a pre-heated 425-degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Greek Pizza for One

Yield: 1 serving

Olive oil - spray

2 tablespoons tomato sauce

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried oregano

4 cherry tomatoes, sliced

2 green and hot peppers, minced

1/3 cup kale, cooked, chopped

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup Kalamata olives

1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced

2 hard-cooked eggs – chopped

1 Spelt pizza crust (individual size)

1. Lightly spray the spelt crust with olive oil.

2. Spread the tomato sauce on top.

3. Sprinkle the basil and oregano over the tomato sauce.

4. Layer the peppers, kale, and sliced tomatoes on pizza.

5. Sprinkle with the cheese and olives.

6. Place chopped eggs in center of pizza and top with dill.

7. Bake in a 425-degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Rice Crust Pizza

Yield: 4 – 6 servings

1 rice crust pizza

1/2 cup pesto sauce (see recipe below)

1 large tomato slice

6 sliced kalamata olives

1 cup cooked dandelion, kale or spinach greens , chopped

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1/4 cup Romano cheese

1. Spread pesto sauce over the entire pizza crust, leave the edges free.

2. Layer interior with chopped, cooked greens

3. Place sliced kalamata olives around the dandelion greens

4. Sprinkle with chives and Romano cheese.

5. Bake pizza in the oven on either a pizza stone or oven rack at 425 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

Basil Parsley Pesto Sauce

Yield: 1 cup

1 cup fresh parsley (stems removed)

1 cup basil leaves

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons pine nuts

Place ingredients in a blender and pulse to blend.