Eating Healthy in a Tough Economy!

What's For Dinner? TACO PIZZA!

When I am talking to kids about eating healthy, I always hear them say Pizza is junk food. My next question is, why is it not healthy? Well....hm.... does it depend on what you put on the pizza? Just think about this, if you make your own crust and add some whole wheat flour, choose healthy toppings, vegetables, low fat cheese, is it really junk food? Have you ever had a Hawaiian Pizza? If the answer is no, you have been missing out! Ham and pineapple, what a lovely tasty combination! Now, I give you that the ham is high in sodium, but you could go heavy on the pineapple and reduce the amount of ham and cheese you use. When you are the cook, you are in control!

Have you ever wondered about the origin of pizza? Pizza is Italian and the pizza we have here has been Americanized. According to http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/pizza-history.asp , "Pizza in its most basic form as a seasoned flatbread has a long history in the Mediterranean. Several cultures including the Greeks and Phoenicians ate a flatbread made from flour and water. The dough would be cooked by placing on a hot stone and then seasoned with herbs. The Greeks called this early pizza plankuntos and it was basically used as an edible plate when eating stews or thick broth. It was not yet what we would call pizza today but it was very much like modern focaccia. These early pizzas were eaten from Rome to Egypt to Babylon and were praised by the ancient historians Herodotus and Cato the Elder." I have had pizza prepared by a lovely lady who grew up in Rome Italy, the Pizza crust was very thin, almost like cracker bread and the sauce was spread evenly and lightly on the crust with ingredients that were not poured on but gracefully spread on the crust. when you further examine Pizza here in America, you find New York style Pizza, which is most like what my friend prepared and Chicago which is more of a thick crust with a lot of sauce and loaded with all of your favorites!

Grilling season is fast approaching and that truly is my favorite new way to fix Pizza! So easy and gives a lovely new twist to an old favorite dish. Simply recipes gives you step by step instructions for making pizza on your grill: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_grill_pizza/ Find your favorite way to prepare your own pizza in your own kitchen and get cooking!

My motivation for pizza has been a Taco recipe that has infiltrated my Pinterest and Facebook page. The recipe that has been most shared is one that you begin by making a crust out of refrigerator crescent rolls. Pizza crust is a very simple item to make, once you make it, you will find it is delicious and so easy, you will make it a habit! I plan to try freezing pizza dough into individual balls that I can take out in the morning and have the crust thawed and ready for when I arrive home. This will be an easy summer time change from traditional barbecue items such has hamburgers and hot dogs. Rachel Ray has a great recipe for freezing pizza dough, you will find it at this link, http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/bean-bacon-coleslaw/ Honestly though, if it is simpler for you to use a refrigerator pre-made dough, go for it!

So, let's get to the kitchen and put together Taco Pizza. The first order of business was to make the pizza crust. When I got to the point of the dough resting, I set about assembling the rest of the ingredients. I browned hamburger, our family likes to add onion to the hamburger, after the meat was browned, I drained and rinsed the hamburger, I then added my favorite taco seasoning and prepared it according to the directions. I then took a can of chili beans and drained half of the juice off and put them in my food processor (A blender or a hand mixer would also work for this). At this point, it was time to work with the dough. I divided the dough in half and rolled each dough into a rectangular shape and placed into a 9X13 pan, my method to this was to have two pizzas, one for tonight and one for tomorrow night as I will be coming home very late and will have a short time for dinner before running to a family event. So, the recipe was in fact doubled for this project. I used my homemade salsa for the sauce (you may use your favorite brand of salsa). I lightly spread the salsa as I did not want the crust to be too soggy. I then spread the refried beans over the salsa, spread the taco meat over top and sprinkled shredded cheddar cheese over the top. Wahla! Ready for the oven! While the pizza is baking, you can prepare taco ingredients such as lettuce, tomatoes, onion, sour cream and olives. If you are using tomatoes this time of year, you can always find Roma Tomatoes to be in your budget. I use low- fat or no-fat sour cream and cheddar cheese to keep it healthy. An easy way to insure that low-fat or no-fat cheese melts and is bubbly is to put it under the broiler in your oven at the very end for just a few minutes, watch carefully as broiling is an intense heat and can burn easily.

Below is the recipe and pictures to walk you through. The first time you make pizza may seem like it is a process, but do it a few times and it becomes easy and fun!

Pizza Crust

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2 1/2 quart bow.. Stir in remaining ingredients, beat vigorously. Kneed in rest of flour till ball nice and elastic, about 12 to 15 times. Cover and let rest 10 minutes (or...however long it takes to assemble your ingredients.) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.

Taco Pizza

1 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa (reserve 1/2 cup for garnishment)

1 can chili beans or refried beans

1 cup cheddar cheese

shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, black olives and sour cream to your liking for garnishment.

Prepare your pizza crust. Spread the dough in a greased 9X13 pan. Spread 1 cup of salsa over the crust evenly. Spread refried beans over the salsa. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes, at very end, put under broiler for 3 to 4 minutes. Slice and add the garnishments. By adding the garnishments to each serving, if you have leftovers, the garnishments will stay nice and crisp.