Indulge your cravings...in a healthful way

When I met my husband and discovered that he, too, was an A blood type, I had to get really creative to keep him interested in eating the way I do. Before Stephen, I could eat brown rice, vegies and tofu every night of the week and be perfectly content. This is because food became about being healthy, not about indulging.
Stephen, on the other hand, has always been fit and lean, and he really enjoyed a delicious "naughty" meal, but he wanted to eat more healthfully.

Although we are no strangers to brown rice, vegies and tofu, I now make more elaborate healthy meals. One such meal was made last night, and my husband and my daughter were euphoric with the outcome. I made pizza.

I have a bread machine, so I just put in 1 1/3 cups water, 4 cups of whole grain spelt flour, 1 t honey, 2 t salt, 2 T olive oil, and active yeast, set my machine to 2 lb pizza, and my dough is finished in about 1 hour and 40 min. That's the easy part. The challenging part comes when I start to make all of my toppings and get my dough ready.

I shape my pizzas and then pre-cook them for about 15 min at 350.

Then I make my toppings. I sauteed onions in oil and salt for about 20 min. Then in a separate pan, I sautee zuccinni and mushrooms. And then in another pan, I steam the chard, then drain out all of the liquid in a collondar. Then in another pan (actually, I take each thing out and place it in a bowl and use the same pan over and over again) I cook the tofu. Since tofu has so much water, I've been cooking it without any fat. I simply squeez it out over the sink, and then crumble it in the pan over med heat. I brown it and season it with garlic salt, and then set aside.

Last night, I used my previously made pesto that I had in the freezer (recipe is under "A party in your mouth" and is low fat and very nutritious), and some fresh basil that I had just picked from the farm.

Once my pizzas were pre-cooked, I brushed on the pesto, spread out the veggies and tofu, and then crumbled on a little bit of goat feta. My husband added grated mozzerella to his. I made 3 pizzas with this recipe: a mini one for Mylah, a cheesy one for Stephen, and a low calorie one for me. I cooked them at 400 degrees for about 15 min.

It is so much work and a lot of clean up, but I always feel that the effort is well worth it. We are able to indulge in a delicious, healthy meal that tasts "naughty" but is totally good for us. Best of all, we don't get that bloated, icky feeling like one gets after eating conventional pizza. This was Mylah's first time eating pizza, and I think she discovered her favorite way to eat tofu.