Healthy Pizza? Screw you!

It's true! I'm human, American, I love pizza. But I gave up a dairy for a while (I still don't eat too much) and boy does that make you miss pizza and going out for pizza. Have you heard of Mary Lou Henner? Remember sexy gal from Taxi? She now writes health books and other stuff based on her "body makeover", vegetarian, non-dairy life and raising non-dairy kids. I have a feeling she's kind of coo-koo but she's a TV and movie star so I have to believe she has something interesting to say, and besides famous people's books always have great pictures from their ugly high school years and that gives me hope. I picked up one of these books on the Borders sale rack (I'm cheap this is documented) and the 30 days before I turned 30 I decided to make a few "changes." I cut out dairy and caffeine. My doctor had recommended that I cut out dairy to help my allergies, was he crazy? Oh wait, he wasn't it worked. Despite that fact that so many people are lactose intolerant it's pretty freaking hard to find soy cheese available at your corner pizza place (in Chicago I order from Leona's, they offer soy cheese). So people like me have been forced to huddle in their kitchen with their pizza stones and eat "homemade pizza." This should sound appealing but I'm not going to blow smoke, it's not as good as take out. But I've come up with two that are respectable, one uses soy and the other very little regular cheese. Both used store bought pizza dough or crusts.

Crusts I have used:
Boboli (regular and whole wheat)–both are good, I prefer the whole wheat, it actually tastes fresher, for pizza crusts they’re a little pricey
Rhodes (freezer section)–good old fashioned white bread tasting, great for stromboli and calzones too, defrosting does take some pre-planning but you can have the dough in your fridge for a few days
Pillsbury (refrigerator section)–not my favorite but in a pinch it’s okay, it tastes like a stretched our biscuit
Trader Joes (refrigerator section)-I tried their “boboli-like” crusts as well as the pizza dough they sell in regular and whole wheat. I prefer the doughs, both are good but obviously the whole wheat is better for you. The crusts are fine and cheap, but drier than Boboli.

Spinach-Feta Pizza

1 1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced (half moons)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
1/2 c. tomato sauce (optional)
10-15 kalamata olives, chopped
1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough

Preheat oven and pizza stone (if you are using one) based on the dough/crust's directions. In a skillet cook the onions and garlic with a little cooking spray and a generous pinch of salt and pepper over medium heat until they turn golden brown and start to caramelize. Add the frozen spinach and lemon zest, cook until just heated through and any liquid has evaporated. Stretch the crust to about 18" round/oval shape. Sprinkle the heated pizza stone with corn meal and place the dough on it. Top the dough with tomato sauce if you like or olive oil. Spread the spinach mixture and sprinkle the chopped olives and feta evenly. Top everything with another dash of salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Bake about 10-15 minutes (follow product directions).

Southwest Chicken Pizza

¾ c. Barbeque Sauce
2 c. cooked chicken, chopped
1 c. red pepper, diced
½ c. cooked or canned corn (optional)
½ red onion, diced
1/3 c. cilantro, chopped
1 ½ c. grated soy cheese (I like a blend of Mozzarella and Cheddar) or Asiago

Thin Crust Boboli Pizza Crust (I like Whole Wheat)

Preheat oven. Top the crust with chicken then bbq sauce, spread around to coat all the crust and chicken. Sprinkle on the cheese then the peppers, corn and onion. Bake for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle cilantro after cooking because it tends to dry out if it’s on top, or blend it with the sauce and chicken first.