WIAW: Healthy Supreme Pizza Spaghetti Pie {Low Calorie, Low Carb}

What if I told you you could have pizza for under 250 calories?  Plus you can have spaghetti on top of all that?  And get a serving or two of vegetables at the same time? Too good to be true?

I think not.

But...you'll have to wait, because I have other eats to discuss today before that recipe.

source

It's What I Ate Wednesday time!!!  Yay :)

Breakfast: Egg & Bacon

Oh, how I love over easy eggs!  I had an over easy egg (that my boyfriend cooked for me--best boyfriend ever award!!!) on half of an English muffin with some precooked bacon and grapefruit slices.  Mixing it up for breakfast!  Loved this change from my usual thang.

Morning Snack: Cheerios

I have been loving cereal as a snack lately.  I just measure out a serving of cereal in a Ziploc and have a little tupperware container filled with 1/2 cup of almond milk.  Perfect to take on the go!  These are the new Dark Chocolate Crunch Cheerios.  I like them alot, but I gotta say, the Chocolate Toast Crunch I had last week was 10 times better (although it was like 20 more calories a serving--no big deal).

Lunch: Sweet Potato and Roasted Veggies

For lunch I had prepared these little containers of goodness the night before.  I roasted brussels sprouts, zucchini, squash and red peppers (in 400F degree oven for about 25 minutes) and "baked" sweet potatoes in the microwave.  This lunch was super flavorful and low calorie!  FTW!

Afternoon Snack: Apple

Surprised to see an apple on WIAW?  No?
Yeah, I had another apple today.  It was pretty tough to stay on track having to cut my apple in this kitchenette, surrounded by junk food:

I mean...really?  There are 3 of us in this office and my bosses know that I don't eat that junk.  Why oh why do we need 3 boxes of chocolates, snack cakes, chips, etc.?  It's infuriating, I tell ya.

So, just figured I'd let you know that I am tempted on a daily basis..but luckily most of my snacks stay at my desk with me and I don't go to the kitchen that much (I took this picture when I was heating up my coffee).

Moving on...

I made a winner of a dinner tonight!

Dinner: Pizza Spaghetti Pie

I had 1/4 of the below recipe with a side of roasted broccoli (roasted in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes).  Such a yummy and veggie-fied dinner!

Healthy Supreme Pizza Spaghetti Pie 

serves 4 

Small to medium spaghetti squash

Medium zucchini, shredded

Turkey breakfast sausage (you could also use ground turkey)

2 Eggs, beaten

1 cup pizza sauce (low sugar, preferably)

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 tsp pizza seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

*note--black olives would be great in this..but I didn't have any

Cut your spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp (and discard), lay the halves face down on a plate with a little bit of water in it.  Microwave until done.  My spaghetti squash was on small side and it was done in 8 minutes.  (You can also bake the spaghetti squash in the oven, but it takes a million years.)

While the spaghetti squash is cooking, heat a skillet on medium heat and throw the onions and green peppers in.  Cook for about 2 minutes, then add the sausage.  Season with 1 tsp of pizza seasoning and the garlic.  Break it into pieces and cook until browned.

Scoop out the "noodles" of the spaghetti squash and all the other ingredients in a large bowl and mix until combined.  Taste and season more, if needed.

Spread into a greased 8x8 pan and cook at 350F degrees for an hour.

Add a little extra pizza sauce on the top and a sprinkling of parmesan (optional) before serving.

*note--next time I'll probably try and squeeze as much moisture from my veggies prior to cooking, because it released a little water in the pan.  No biggie, but just thought I'd mention it.

I know...an hour is a long time, but it's totally worth it!  

You get the taste of pizza without the carbs from the crust or the fat from the cheese.  Normally I would weep missing these two ingredients, but this was very good and you should try it!!! 

(mine was 233 calories per serving, but of course that varies by whatever brand of sausage or sauce you use)

recipe adapted from PaleOMG

After a delicious dinner, I had a low sugar ice cream sandwich.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I hoovered it, but here is another one in the package...and a cute dog photo bomb!

Have a super fun day!

Oh, before I go, let me try a new thing:

Question of the day: Do you deal with food temptation at work while trying to eat healthy?  Or even at home?  How do you deal?

It's so much easier for me to control it at home, because I do the grocery shopping.

If you feel like answering the question in the comment, that's cool.  If not, that's cool too!

Ok, peace out!

DIY Grilled Pizza

Hey, this photo was featured over at Endless Simmer!

Aaahh!  This post got a little wordy.  I try to KISS (keep it short and simple), but even though this is not visibly short, I made it super duper simple.  Trust me.

***

I was prepared for this not to work out.  I had a back up pizza dough ready to go, just in case.

But you know what?  I developed the perfect grilled pizza system.

I'm going to share it with you today.  It is designed to keep kitchen clean up to the absolute minimum while maximizing your time for pizza enjoyment.

First, let me give you my tried and true pizza dough recipe.  It's in my head.  I went through a time where I literally made homemade pizza once (sometimes twice) a week.  You don't have to grill the pizza if you don't want to (or if you don't have a grill).  You can also top with toppings & bake (after rising time) at 450 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

So, step one of the pizza system is to gather these ingredients:

Pizza Dough

serves 4

2 1/2 cups flour (I used half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour)

1 packet of instant, fast acting yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

non-stick spray

more flour and olive oil for preparation 

Ok, so get out one big bowl, 1 2 cup measuring cup, 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.  These are all the dishes you need.

Here's my breakdown of events necessary to reach optimal levels of awesomeness:

• Fill up the 2 cup measuring cup with your flour, dump in bowl, then add the other 1/2 cup.  Add the tsp of salt on top of the flour.
• Use the same measuring cup and add sugar, yeast and hot water.
• Let the yeast, water, sugar mixture sit for about 5 minutes until totally frothy.  Whisk your salt and flour together while you are waiting.
• Make a little dent in the middle of the flour mix in the bowl & pour in 1 tbsp olive oil, followed by frothy yeasty water mix.  Don't add all the water mix.  Just a little more than half.
• Stir it all up with a spatula until combined.  Add more water mixture if necessary.  You want the dough to look kind of crumbly still.
• Work it with your hands a bit (kind of knead it) until it is kind of stretchy and awesome.
• Pick the dough up with one hand and spray the bowl with non-stick spray with the other hand.  Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let it rise for about an hour.

*ONE HOUR LATER*

imagine that was said in voice from Spongebob!

Prepare your grill for pizza grilling time.
We have a small, gas grill that gets super hot.  I've never done this on a charcoal grill, so you'll have to do some Googling if you need modifications.

*Turn your grill on medium, high heat and then clean the grates with grill brush.

*Go back inside and lay out a piece of aluminum foil, spray with non-stick spray and roll half of your pizza dough out on it (I used a floured rolling pin, but you could always just use your hands). I kind of made it into an oval. I was going for a rectangle, but I'm geometrically challenged.

*Put a little olive oil on the top of the rolled out dough.

*Get back outside with a paper towel and some olive oil. Pour some olive oil on your folded paper towel and hold it with some grilling tongs while oiling the grill grates.

*Ok, slide your aluminum foil with the dough on it onto like a tray or a sheet pan and carry it outside and place the top (oiled) side down on the grill, then peel the aluminum foil away.

*Close the grill and cook for about 5 minutes. While this is cooking, hustle your bum inside and prepare some toppings.

*Once the side that is down on the grill looks pretty grill-tastic, carefully put the pizza with the uncooked side down on the sprayed aluminum foil (I used the grill tongs) and go put your toppings on the side that is already cooked.

*Place uncooked side down on the grill and close the lid for another 5 minutes or until toppings look done-ish.

Repeat with the other half of the dough if you want or freeze it for later like I did.

I guess I did some boring toppings.  I didn't know how this would work, so I didn't want to waste a bunch of toppings on something that was going in the trash (that's either really low self confidence or really smart planning-not sure which).

I topped my pizza with a light layer of basil tomato sauce, freshly sliced mozzarella, tomato slices with dried basil and parmesan.  Kind of like a margherita pizza?

Well, whatever.  This was the bomb-diggity.  It was so good that I'm bringing back 90's slang.

This pizza has the perfect crispy, thin-ish crust with just a hint of grill flavor.

If you don't want to do the whole wait an hour for the pizza to rise thing, try a no-rise pizza dough.

But think of all the stuff you could get done in that hour of rise time...house chores, take a walk, go run some errands, take a bath, watch half of a movie.  Endless possibilities.

Try a grilled pizza this weekend and impress your friends, family, but most of all-yourself.

Did I sound like a motivational speaker?  Well, hopefully I motivated you to grill some pizzas!

Potato Pizza

I was in the mood for a veggie pizza, but we had no veggies suitable for a pizza. I scoured the pantry and came up with potatoes and thought, "Why not?"

I wouldn't normally post something so haphazardly thrown together, but this turned out so good, I had to share it.

The crust is thin and crispy, but not too thin and crispy and the flavors were spot on.

Anyways, make it you must.

I think I was channeling Yoda just then. Crazy delicious pizza will scramble your mind like that.

Perfect Potato Pizza

For the dough:
1 cup flour
1/2 packet of yeast
1/2 cup warm water
pinch salt
pinch sugar

For the pizza toppings:
1 cooked medium yellow potato (I cooked mine in plastic for 4 min. in the microwave)
3 pieces of precooked bacon
grated parmesan
shredded parmesan
feta cheese
herb mix
garlic salt

Stir together your flour and salt. In a separate container (I used a measuring cup) mix warm water, sugar and yeast. Mix all the dough ingredients together and let it sit in a bowl sprayed with non-stick spray for about 30 minutes. It won't rise much.

After your cooked potato is cool enough to handle, slice it into thin discs. Cut or tear your bacon into pieces.

Roll out your dough or just kind of stretch it and pat it with your hands onto your sprayed baking sheet.

Top with grated parmesan, sliced potatoes, salt, herb mix, bacon, shredded parm and feta.

Cook at 500 degrees for 12 minutes.

This recipe makes one medium sized pizza that would feed 2 hungry people. Double it if you want to make 2 pizzas.



Seriously good.



I had to pair my pizza slices with a salad to justify the carb on carb action going on with this pizza.

Pizza Bread is All You Need

You know that saying that man cannot live by bread alone?

Um, I think they made that a saying before there was such a thing as pizza bread.

I mean, this bread has all the necessary food groups all swirled into one.

We need to make an amendment to that saying to include an exception for pizza bread.

It's got pepperoni, cheese and sauce all right in the bread.

Can't get any better than that.



This is kind of like a pizza rolled up, except it has butter and egg in the dough to make it more of a bread than just a pizza dough.

Here's what you need to make it happen:

Pizza Swirl Bread
Adapted from How Sweet It Is

2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large egg (I used ¼ cup Egg Beaters)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Garlic or garlic salt to taste
1/4-1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4-1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
20-30 slices turkey pepperoni (less greasy than regular, but you can use regular if you want)
1/3 cup red sauce (I used Kroger traditional spaghetti sauce)
Sprinkle of Italian seasoning

To make your dough:

In a small saucepan, combine milk and 2 tablespoons butter over low heat. Heat until bubbles appear on the sides then turn off heat and set aside.

Measure out 1/4 cup of warm water and combine it with yeast and sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until foamy.

Pour all the wet ingredients together and add the egg.

Mix flour and salt in a big bowl then add the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Knead it for a minute or two.

Spray the bowl with non-stick spray and leave the dough in there to rise for a an hour (lightly covered with a towel or plastic wrap).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan.



Then roll out the dough to about an 8”x12” rectangle.

Spread tomato sauce on first, then garlic and herbs, Swiss, pepperoni and parmesan.

Roll it up and stuff it in the pan. Top with a sprinkle of cheese if you want.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Let cool for 30 minutes, then remove from pan and slice.



You can pair this with soup and a salad and make it a meal if you like. We just kind of ate it standing over the stove. Whatever works for you.

Have a great Monday :)

Grown-Up Pizza

Let's face it-sometimes being a grown-up sucks. There are so many things you are responsible for it is exhausting just thinking about it.

There are those days when we all long to be a kid again. To have no burdens and have every new thing seem so exciting. That would be cool.

But there are things about being an adult that are awesome, too. Like the fact that you are the boss of you. If you want to have pie before dinner, or even for breakfast, you can do it. You can watch R rated movies, curse and drink beer. And your tastes totally change as you become an adult--like suddenly vegetables taste awesome (most of the time) and you crave things you would never even consider when you were a child.

I don't think you will catch a kid longing for this pizza. It's topped with tangy, zesty Greek flavors and vegetables (not as icky as you may have once thought).

I loved Fridays growing up, because we would have pizza (sometimes take out, sometimes frozen) and watch my favorite set of shows: T.G.I.F. shows on ABC. Remember that? Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, Perfect Strangers. Those kind of shows.

Well, I pretended last night (though Thursday) was a grown-up T.G.I.F. and made Greek pizza, drank beer and watched the line up on NBC (I love Community!). It felt kind of awesome to be an adult with this combo.

To make this pizza, here's what you need (I drew in the stuff I forgot to photograph--it's very lifelike):



Crazy Feta
adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 brick feta (I used reduced fat)
1 jalapeno, cored and finely chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
juice of 1/3 lemon
zest of 1/3 lemon
salt to taste

Greek Pizza
also adapted from How Sweet It Is

Pizza dough (I used Freschetta wheat--found it at Target)
Crazy feta (entire recipe above)
Garlic salt
Olive oil
Dill
3/4 cup mozzarella (I used Veggie Cheese)
1 can artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
1 2.5 oz can of kalamata olives, drained
1/4 red onion, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed (I zapped it in the microwave)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare your crazy feta first (crumble with your hands, then mix it all in a bowl). Then pile on the pizza crust: brushing of olive oil, sprinkle of dill, mozzarella, artichokes, olives, onion, peppers, tomato, crazy feta and spinach. Sprinkle it with a little garlic salt. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Slice and enjoy. Serves 4 people (I could seriously only eat two slices and I was hungry--but they are filling slices, piled high with toppings).

Summer Vegetable Pizza with Homemade Beer Crust

Who doesn't love pizza? Seriously, there are so many variations of ingredients you can make into a pizza. My favorite way to eat a pizza is piled high with veggies. It makes me feel healthier or something.
I made this crust using my favorite beer (ok, really it is the only kind of beer I will drink because I'm just not that into beer).

Here's the crust ingredients:



Beer Pizza Crust (loosely adapted from King Arthur Flour)

2 cups flour
1/2 package of yeast
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup beer ( I used Shock Top Belgian White)

Mix it all up in a bowl, knead for 6 minutes or so, and let the dough rise for about an hour.

After an hour, preheat the oven to 450 and gather your topping ingredients & chop them:



Summer squash
Zucchini
Corn
Baby Spinach
Grape tomatoes
Veggie cheese
Ricotta cheese
Italian seasoning & salt (not pictured)

Roll out your dough with a rolling pin or just form it by hand & place on oiled cookie sheet (or non stick surface). Pile on your toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes.
Makes one medium sized pizza that will feed 3 hungry people.



Veggilicious!