Organic Pizza for Two

Pizza, there’s plenty of places to get it. Order it in, go out and dine, or pick it up and cook a pre-made at home.

All of the above mentioned have several things in common. They are loaded with excess calories, come packed with bad cholesterol and do wonders to amp up your systolic numbers if you suffer from high blood pressure due to the excess salt.

But, as it is with so many other foods, in particular those that are popular as fast foods, there is a healthy alternative.

In this recipe you’ll find the basics for making healthy pizza at home, in the time it takes to run out the door to pick up a take and bake. And when you’re done, you won’t be doing much to amp up your intake of excess calories, salt, cholesterol sugar and otherwise. Just doing some good for your body without working your way through traffic or waiting for a late delivery driver.

Ingredients

• 1 cup organic Spaghetti Sauce (Muir Glen, Cadia etc…)
• 1 10” organic Lavash or Pizza Flat (Josephs, Essential Baking Company)
• 2 TBS Extra Light Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ cup organic Mexican cheese (Organic Valley)
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional if you like spike)
• Your choice of organic veggies
• Your choice of organic protein to taste, precooked (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place a full-size paper towel into a medium size strainer. Place those into a large bowl, pour in the sauce onto the paper towel and let the excess moisture dissipate from the sauce. Now you’ve got thick sauce – almost a paste.
3. Place the 10” round onto a round baking tray. Brush one side with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, flip and repeat.
4. Pour on tomato mixture and brush evenly across the round. Add ¼ cup of cheese evenly across the top. Add veggie and protein choices across top evenly. Add the other ¼ cup of cheese evenly across the round.
5. Place into heated oven and cook until the top layer of cheese browns or begins to bubble. About 8-10 minutes. Slice and serve.

Cooking Notes

• Note we’re using Extra Light olive oil here. We do this because the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil (350 degrees) is inadequate here and could be carcinogenic if used.
• Veggie portions, if you’re going there, are about 2TBS to ¼ cup per item.
• Protein choice? Applegate makes an organic pepperoni. Nice. There’s also grass-fed beef, organic chicken, wild salmon… the world is your oyster.
• Essential baking company makes the round we use. We get the thin crust and store the second either in the fridge short term (1 week) or freeze for later usage.

Sussi Homaecher/March 2019