Healthy Pita-Bread Pizza

Hungry students!  You’ve had a long tiring day and have barely had a chance to eat something healthy. You don’t want to skimp on the nutrition, but do not have the patience, energy or time to cook something extravagant. But hey, you deserve a treat after all those hours you put in! Are you tempted to order pizza? Why do that, when you can make your own in less than half the time, way cheaper, is loaded with nutrition and super tasty? This is the perfect solution for you. You’re going to go to bed feeling well-fed and pretty pleased with yourself.

• Cooking skills required: Extremely basic.
• Equipment/Utensils Required: Oven.
• Items needed other than the basic stocked items: None!
• Prep Time: 10 mins.
• Cooking Time: 10-15 mins in the oven.
• Serving Size: One pizza per person.
• Cost per pizza: $1.8

Ingredients:

1. Pita Bread: You can substitute this and use the regular store-bought bread or fresh loaves of bread. But for visual, nutritional and textural purposes, I find Pita Bread to be the best.
2. Marinara sauce/Pasta sauce
3. Cheese: Whatever cheese is your favorite or is in your fridge.
4. Veggies: Pick from chopped onions, different colored bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, jalapenos. 
5. Seasoning: Crushed red pepper, Herb mixes, garlic salt.

Method:

1. Set oven to 400 F to preheat.
2. Chop your favorite veggies. Add any ingredient you think would taste good. Trust your taste buds and instincts!  
3. Spread about 1-2 tablespoons of sauce on the bread. (5-6 diameter bread).
4. Top it with all the veggies. Go nuts and load it up!
5. Sprinkle a good amount of cheese on the top. I put about 1 tablespoon of shredded pizza mix cheese on top.
6. Add the spicy seasoning.
7. Keep in heated oven for 10 mins at 400 F.
8. Add the herbs and non-spicy seasonings on top

Calories: About 180-240 calories per pizza.

Each bread differs in the calorie content. But most high fibre breads range anywhere between 80-120 calories each slice/bread. The veggies add up to 20-30 calories per bread. The cheese (I’m assuming mozzarella shreds) adds up to about 80-90 calories.

Serving suggestion: For someone with an average appetite, you can eat about 2 pizzas. I go with the flow when I put the cheese because it is the main source of protein and fat for this meal.

Supplementary suggestions: The high fibre in the bread and the cheese makes it quite filling and makes it a good go-to dish for brunch, lunch or an early dinner. It’s an easy prep and cook dish for days when you want to eat something tasty, but are running low on cash and time! It’s also an easy dish to make when a few friends come over, and you don’t actually have to order pizza. 

I tend to pair a lot of my cheese-based meals with some fruit like apple or something citrus. The vitamin C or antioxidants and the juice give a nice break from all the fats in the cheese and also compensate for any low fibre meal I might have had that day.

Enjoy!