Pretty Damn Healthy Vegetable Pesto Pizza

Pizza is our Kryptonite, as if you didn't already gather that. Strangely, I rarely ever make it for dinner; mixing and rolling out the dough, assembling the toppings.... It can get to be a lot of work, and I like to leave that work to the local pizzerias (I get all of the reward for doing none of the work). However the other day I just so happened to have some pre-made pizza dough and pesto in the freezer (don't you just love when that happens?).

If all that I needed to do was chop and sauté some veggies, grate a little cheese, put it on pizza dough, and throw it in the oven there was no excuse in my mind.

Chop chop

Sauteed fresh summer vegetables, doesn't get much better

Look how green the pesto is!

Veggie-rific

Cheese....DUH

Yum :)

If you are confused about how I could possibly call pizza healthy, here is my justification:

1. I used a homemade, 100% whole wheat pizza dough. Not to mention, it was an individual size and was used to serve 2.
2. I used homemade, no nuts add pesto.
3. I used extremely aged and rich parmesan with flakes of black truffles (it was on a unbeatable sale at Whole Foods). The better the quality of cheese, the less that needs to be used (seriously try a 2-year aged cheddar and then a 20-year aged cheddar).
4. I topped the crust with loads of sautéed vegetables.
5. I served it with a strawberry-spinach side salad.

Anywho, here is the recipe:

Pretty Damn Healthy Vegetable Pesto Pizza

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 individual sized pizza dough (preferably whole wheat)

2-3 tablespoons pesto

1/2 half chopped onion, divided

1 small sweet red pepper

1 small sweet yellow pepper

2/3-1 cup chopped broccoli

1/2 small beefsteak tomato, chopped

1 cup spinach

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4-1/3 cup good quality parmesan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lightly spray a skillet with cooking spray and heat on stove over medium heat.

Once pan is heated add 1/2 of the onions and let cook for a minute or two. Then add the peppers and broccoli and continue to cook until almost soft (5-8 minutes).

While vegetables are cooking, lightly flour a flat surface and roll out pizza dough. Place on pizza pan and evenly spread pesto on top of dough.

Spread softened vegetables on top of pesto, then top with spinach, minced garlic, tomato, rest of chopped onion, and cheese.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Cut into pieces and enjoy :)