Skinny Flatout Pizza

I’m going to be honest from the get-go.  In days gone by I made homemade pizza dough every Friday night topped with fresh mozzarella.  My boy, James, and husband, Jimmy, ate no meat on Fridays so as to receive communion at church on Sunday.  They still skip meat on Fridays but I hardly ever make pizza dough anymore and when we do have pizza I top it with part-skim mozzarella and grilled vegetables.  If I choose to have pepperoni, it is ALWAYS turkey pepperoni.  These days we have Flatout brand flat bread pizzas and, boy, are they great!  Flatouts are perfect for those days when you’ve reached your limit; you’re done with dinner.  For those nights when you ask yourself, “Didn’t I feed them LAST night? My gosh, when does this end?”, this is the go-to solution.  You can make these flatbread pizzas as healthful or as decadent as you want.  I love them because they so satisfy that pizza craving when I’m watching my weight, and I always am, but even more so when I’m losing weight which I happen to be doing as.we.speak.

So here are some tips.  In order for the flat breads to crisp up and hold their shape they need to be toasted for a few minutes without any toppings…just plain on a baking sheet.  For cheese I use a variety such as part-skim mozzarella, goat cheese, feta and even brie depending on how bad I want to be.   We love grilled vegetables on ours, however, between the cheese, vegetables and any other toppings one must be a bit light handed or your top-heavy pizza will totally fall apart.  Go easy on the cheese as when it melts it spreads.  I purchase small jars of already prepared pizza sauce and freeze what is not used in portions of 2 or 3 teaspoons wrapped in plastic.  When I need sauce I simply pull a packet out of the freezer and keep on going.  Excess juices from the vegetables can be a problem so rather than slice and drain tomatoes I par-roast grape tomatoes.  I toss a few handfuls of grape tomatoes in a little bit of olive oil and roast in a pre-heated 425° oven.  While they’re roasting I assemble and prep all the other ingredients and in about 15-20 minutes the tomatoes are done.  Mushrooms are sliced and sautéed until nicely browned and excess moisture is cooked out.  Italian long hot peppers are fabulous on these pizzas… not too spicy but not too mild either.  Turkey pepperoni crisps up beautifully, gives off essentially no grease and tastes as salty and wonderful as conventional pepperoni.  Fresh basil is best put on your flatbread after it comes out of the oven.  The heat of the oven tends to turn the herb black and flavorless so wait until once it’s out of the heat and feel free to shower it with fresh basil, fresh pepper flakes and a drizzle of good olive oil.  You’ll be amazed!