Wow! Summer is officially here and I can’t believe how fast it is going already! I have been busier than usual and we are all feeling it in our house. Dinners need to be healthy, easy and fast so that we can get to the pool!
A favorite meal in our house is pizza. Who doesn’t love it!? During the summer we use the grill to cook them. I love how easy it is and that we don’t have to heat the house up with the oven.
Here is how we make our pizzas. There are hundreds of combinations for pizza toppings; I have listed a few of our favorites that are pretty healthy. As I have said before, I tend to throw in ingredients to our taste, so I don’t have specific measurements.
We use whole-wheat pitas for the crust. There are pre-made crusts that are a bit more moist than the pitas, but have nearly DOUBLE the calories BEFORE you even top them. The whole-wheat pitas I found have 160 calories per 6” pita and the 8” pizza crusts have 380 calories!
Another nice thing about individual pizzas is that everyone can make their own, using the toppings they want. Maren loves to make her own, but I guess right now she still loves to help with everything!
To start, for any of the recipes, heat grill to medium and brush olive oil on the TOPPING side of the crust and place that side DOWN on the grill to heat for 2-3 minutes. Bring the crusts back inside, turn them over and top with your favorite toppings. Then put back on the grill for 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted.
BBQ Grilled Chicken:
The favorite in our house is BBQ grilled chicken. Spoon on a approximately 3 TBS of BBQ sauce on each pita, add chopped red onion to taste, shredded chicken and top with shredded Pizza mix or Cheddar/Jack cheese. Garnish with cilantro when done grilling.
Margherita:
A favorite of mine is Margherita. This is typically meant to be a dry cocktail pizza, however the pitas can dry out fast. Using canned tomato sauce or crushed fresh tomatoes will help the crust stay moist. Mix sauce/tomatoes, and garlic to taste. Spoon approximately 3 TBS sauce onto each pita and top with slices of fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil and grill. Sprinkle basil on when done grilling.
Goat Cheese and Pear Pizza:
When we were in K.C. in the Plaza to celebrate our 10-year anniversary we had a Pear, Chicken and Goat cheese pita pizza at one of our favorite restaurants. I have since tried it a few times at home; it tastes great, but had trouble getting the toppings to stay on as the goat cheese doesn’t melt down. A tip I just ran across is to blend the cheese with olive oil to desired consistency and then spread on the crust. I found a cranberry fig goat cheese that is really good; 4 oz log would probably cover 3-4 pizzas. Top with shredded chicken and thinly sliced pears and drizzle with olive oil.
I did a little research on goat cheese, and found an interesting tidbit.
Compared to cow’s milk products such as cream cheese, goat cheese is lower in fat, calories and cholesterol. It also provides more calcium and fewer carbohydrates than cream cheese. Even though goat cheese has fewer calories, it has a full, rich and creamy flavor.
Not sure that I would use it in place of cream cheese in a recipe though!
Have a great week!
Andrea
boasted to have created the Margarita as an homage to actress Rita Hayworth, whose real name was Margarita Cansino. As a side note, I also read she also had painful facial plastic surgery so she wouldn’t be stereotyped into Latina acting rolls – crazy stuff!
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