Even though I consider myself a healthy clean eater, we all need comforting cheat foods.
For example, I like pizza. So, instead of getting a take out thick crust pizza from a nearby restaurant, I make pizza at home. I can satisfy my pizza craving once in awhile, and still try to stay within my daily calorie intake.
Initially, I bought a good quality frozen pizza from the grocery store, like Newman’s Own 4 Cheese or Kashi Mediterranean. Half a pizza is about 450 calories.
Then one week, I purchased a Rustic Crust thin pizza shell, loaded it with fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, spinach, & cheese and baked it myself. Still low in calories -approximately 500. It’s easy to create, and so much better tasting than frozen.
But the thin pizza was made with processed white flour, and I really wanted to try to stick with whole grains. So, I decided that even though the thicker whole grain crust was more calories, it was better than a thin crust made with whole flour.
I found these really delicious whole wheat “Tandoori Naan” breads from Whole Foods 365 brand. One package contains 4, and each naan is 260 calories. I can put together a healthy veggie cheese pizza for 500 or less, depending on how much cheese I use.
Last Thursday, I spread 1 oz Friendship Farmers cheese on the naan bread, and topped it with 1 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, & olives and it was less than 450 calories. Paired with a bowl of leftover onion soup, it was a fantastic and delicious meal!
Here is a photo of the finished pizza, keep in mind that the sun dried tomatoes look a bit overdone, but they weren’t.
