Meatless Monday: Vegetable Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

What a day. Who would’ve thought that sitting through 8 hours of class could be so exhausting?? I came home feeling like a tightly wound ball of stress. Although I didn’t get home from class until around 6:50 pm, I still found time to squeeze in a quick workout at the gym, prepare a delicious, healthy lunch for tomorrow, hard boil some eggs for the rest of the week, enjoy a glass of wine, AND make a tasty meat-free meal for dinner. I must say, if I can keep up this pace I’m gonna make one hell of a super mom someday. Someday VERY FAR away!!! The only thing I didn’t do was make a homemade crust for my pizza tonight. Oh well, you gotta take short cuts once in a while, right?

Vegetable Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pizza dough (I used a store-bought kind and sliced off a piece about the size of my fist)

Your favourite tomato sauce (if you are using store-bought sauce, watch out for the sodium content!)

Your favourite veggies (I used portobello mushrooms, red bell pepper, steamed spinach, and a bit of red onion)

Your favourite cheese(s) (I used a little bit of havarti)

Directions:

1. Prepare your dough according to the package instructions. Mine said to let the dough rise for about 20 minutes prior to use, so I prepped all my toppings in the meantime.

2. Place the dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet and spread it into a pizza shape. Spread your favourite sauce on top of the dough, add your veggies and cheese and bake for 20 minutes at 425ºF. Easy, right? And a great meal to make if you have kids, because you can get them to make their own personal-sized pizza with their favourite toppings.

Happy Meatless Monday!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Banana Pancakes

Nothing beats lazy Sunday mornings with delicious homemade pancakes and coffee!  I made this tasty dish this morning for my boyfriend.  With lots of fresh fruit and a few substitutions, this recipe can be reeeeeeasonably healthy ;)

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup  of milk (choose 1% or skim as a lower fat option)

1/2 tbsp of honey (optional)

1 large egg white

1 tbsp melted butter or non-hydrogenated margarine

1 cup of whole wheat flour (or half whole wheat, half all-purpose)

1 tbsp sugar (use a bit less if you are adding the honey)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt (eliminate if you are trying to cut down on sodium)

2 ripe bananas, sliced (set 1/3 cup aside for garnishing)

1 cup fresh fruit (I used strawberries, raspberries and blackberries)

Directions:

1. Pour the milk, honey, egg white and melted butter into a small bowl. Stir with a fork or whisk.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

3. Make a “well” in the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture.  Add the sliced bananas (set 1/3 cup aside for garnishing) and stir until just combined.  Don’t worry about getting all the lumps out – overmixing can result in tough pancakes.

4. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Ladle the batter onto the skillet and cook the pancakes for a few minutes, until the bottoms are golden and bubbles appear on the surface. When the surface gets bubbly, flip the pancakes with a spatula and cook for another minute or two, or until they are golden on the other side.

5. Serve the pancakes topped with the remaining banana slices and fresh fruit.  Drizzle with a little bit of maple syrup if you like, but if you are trying to cut calories this can be left out - the fruit adds a lot of sweetness and moisture to the pancakes already!

Yeilds 4 large pancakes (MORE than enough for 2 people to share!)