I know, I know… people are constantly swearing off entire kinds of foods all in the name of weight loss, but I’ve got to wonder – if you put “pizza” on your list, was it because you were eating some greasy chain’s pizza, or some re-heatable box pizza? I’m almost certain you weren’t swearing off your own homemade pizza, right?
Right?
Well, while I gave up everyone else’s pizza, I certainly didn’t swear off my own. But why are my own pizzas so much better than anything else I might find at the store?
1) My pizzas have less salt. I don’t need much more than a pinch of a pinch worth of salt across my entire pizza because it has more than enough flavor. It doesn’t need the salt to give me a reason to keep eating it.
2) My pizzas have less grease. Whereas many other pizza chains insist on dousing their dough in grease to the point where the crust is fried while cooking, I don’t need all that. My dough is flavorful and so are my toppings. I don’t need to cling to fat to give me that “Mmmmmm!” feeling. I’m over that.
3) My pizzas have real ingredients. Do YOU know why there’s trans-fats in Pizza Hut’s pizza dough? Trans fats, the same artery-hardening stuff that killed countless people when the tried to sell that garbage to us as margarine? You DON’T know why that’s in there? Funny. Me neither.
4) My pizzas don’t rely on goo gobs of sweet tomato sauce to make them enjoyable. In fact, the moment I realized that I had a tendency to lean toward making my tomato sauces a little on the sweeter side, I backed off of them completely.
That being said… here are the fruits of my labor, aaaaaaand a reader who shared with me her own pizza-making adventure!
Phyllo Parmesan Pizza
Spinach, chicken, tomato, oregano and parmesan pizza
White pepper pizza, with black pepper, red peppers, golden peppers, green peppers and zucchini hiding down under white chipotle cheddar.
Onion, tomato, cilantro, black pepper, mozzarella, and spinach.
Parsley, spinach, red onion, green onion, mushroom, moscarpone, basil and balsamic vinegar reduction. It was… heavenly.
And Nishay’s pizza started off like this:
And yes, that is HER giving the thumbs up!
and finished like this!
Yum!
If you’re looking to make one of the pizzas above, you’ll need a good dough. While I can’t recommend any pre-made doughs, I can share my recipe for regular dough. If you must go for pre-made dough, look for one with as few chemicals as possible in the ingredients list, and as little salt as you can get!
What’s your favorite kind of pizza? Shoot, give me some ideas!