Homemade Pizza

Raise your hand if you love pizza!

(Insert me raising my hand.)

However, my love for pizza has been on hold since my favorite place to go for it is Brixx. About 2 months ago I found out that their pizzas have on average 1200 calories. Considering I can eat a whole pizza in one sitting plus more, I went cold turkey on Brixx.

I was sad. But not 1200 calories sad.

Thank goodness there's still hope for me - homemade pizzas!


Yum..yum...and more yum!!

I was super excited about this creation because I had all the ingredients on hand except for the pizza crust.

Typically I would buy a whole wheat pizza crust, but since Justin was joining me, I decided to compromise on the pizza crust. He's a healthy eater, but I sometimes take it to the extreme, which leaves him groaning for a steak or burger...whoops :)

Here's a rough sketch of my recipe since homemade pizzas are really just all about adding what you love and omitting what you don't like.

Homemade Mushroom and Onion Pizza

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves minced
1 medium yellow onion (chunky slices)
mushrooms
cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken (I used leftover rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup marinara sauce
grated mozzarella cheese
seasonings (oregano, Italian, basil, whatever you like!)
1 pizza pie crust (preferably whole wheat)

Directions

- Saute garlic and onions on medium heat for about 4 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and cherry tomatoes for an additional 4 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and continue to saute for a few more minutes.
- Smother pizza crust with as much marinara sauce as you want.
- Cover the sauce with the garlic, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and chicken.
- Sprinkle as much mozzarella cheese and seasonings on top as you want!
- Insert pizza into pre-heated oven of 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown (read your pizza crusts' directions in case they're different!)
- Final step: Open wide and say "Ah!"

Modifications for next time

I recommend adding black olives and some fresh basil to this for an extra taste of heaven!

You can definitely add more chicken if you want or less onions...it's your pizza...so just go with it! I stacked so many veggies on mine that they kept falling off with every bite :)

I guess I'm not the only one who has pizza on their mind because today I ran across quite a few articles randomly that talked about making homemade pizzas.

Runner's World has some great ideas for making pizzas at home plus some recommendations for healthy frozen pizzas.

Here's a quote from the article that gives you all the more reason to chow down on a piece of pizza:

"Marinara sauce is rich in lycopene, a cancer-fighting antioxidant. One study found eating a red-sauce pizza every week can lower your risk for certain cancers."

Shape also posted a delicious article on 5 Healthy Pizzas to Make at Home. The Grilled Caramelized-Onion Pizza with Rosemary, Olives and Prosciutto recipe is calling my name! And it only has 162 per slice....sweet! Or should I say yum??

Workout Update

I've been a sweat machine this week! I've already been to two 6am workouts. After tomorrow's 6am spin class, I will have worked out 6 hours since Monday. Sounds like a lot, but I'm not even sore...yet. I guess I'm just really loving my group classes at the gym :)

Question

Have you ever made a homemade pizza?? What's your favorite kind of pizza?