Hi Friends!
Pizza gets a really bad rap; people will automatically include pizza when discussing foods we have to avoid if we are trying to lose a little body fat. Let me dispel that thought right now!!! Yes, pizza can be a food that will derail our efforts; but if we substitute just a couple ingredients, we can have clean pizza.
Let’s look at a typical pizza. How about Lou Malnati’s? (My favorite). It has a thick crust which is made up of flour, oil, cornmeal, sugar….Not clean. Then tomato sauce (not bad), then a layer of pork sausage (not clean) and then a thick layer of gooey mozzarella cheese (not clean in that quantity, but we can work around that by just using a lot less).
One of my favorite new ways to make pizza at home is to use Trader Joe’s Cauliflower crust. You can find it in the frozen food section at Trader Joe’s. Here’s what it looks like and the nutritional information:
Even if you eat the entire pizza; the crust is only 480 calories. Not bad. Even if your toppings add up to 200 calories, you can eat the entire pizza for under 700 calories. Try doing that with a Lou’s pizza and you will bust a gut!
You can add tomato sauce, mixed veggies, and go light on the shredded mozzarella on top and you have a clean pizza.
This one is topped with pesto and roasted red and yellow peppers (You can buy them already roasted in a jar at Trader Joe’s. No extra cheese on top of this one and you will not miss it.
This one is a barbequed chicken, yellow peppers, red onion and some low fat mozzarella on top. The sauce is a low sugar barbeque sauce with rotisserie chicken shredded over the top and a little arugula (the green stuff) on top. Arugula is a wonderful green that has a nice peppery flavor. Give it a try!
This one is a spring vegetable pizza. The base is a little low fat ricotta cheese smeared on the top of the crust, then any kind of veggie you like: mushrooms, peas, asparagus, sliced thin and topped with a little goat cheese or you can use Feta cheese. Sprinkle red pepper flakes and balsamic glaze on top after it’s cooked. The flavors are just amazing!
So, there you have it: three options for clean pizza.
This is the kind of magic gold dust you can learn during our time together.
Be creative! The crust is merely a canvas for any and all flavors you’d like to add!
Have a great day!
Your forever fan,
Tami
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