Kale, Almond, and Salted Apple Pizza (vegan option)

Kale, Almond and Salted Apple Pizza

Doesn't that look yummy? Who says that veggie pizzas have to be boring? We started with a whole wheat crust and topped it with finely chopped kale tossed with olive oil, shredded mozzarella cheese, lightly salted apple slices and almond slivers. G-man asked for the apples and the Cadet added the almonds. The salted apples added a naughty sweetness, while the almonds give a bit of crunch. (Great job, guys!)

Quick Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves finely chopped
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil (more if you skip the cheese)
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped green onion
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz shredded mozzarella (optional)
2 apples, sliced
1 tsp olive oil
salt
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Prepare the pizza crust as directed. (Our quick, no-knead whole wheat pizza crust is super-easy.) Spray the top with olive oil and allow it to rise while you prepare the rest of the toppings.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

In a small bowl, mix the kale, quarter cup of olive oil, garlic, onion and salt with your hands. Spread the mixture over the pizza dough. Top with cheese (optional) Toss the sliced apples, and teaspoon of olive oil together in the bowl. Sprinkle with enough salt to cover the apples, then top the pizza with the apples, followed by the almond slices.

Bake for about 18 minutes, until the crust is golden on the bottom and the almonds and apples are slightly toasted. Enjoy!

[For a vegan pie, just skip the cheese altogether instead of using a cheese substitute. The texture and flavours of the greens, fruit and nuts, with hints of olive oil and garlic stand out on their own.]



www.stealthymom.com

Thirty Minute Pizza (from scratch!)

Thirty Minute Pizza

Delivery pizza takes forty-five minutes. Homemade can take thirty. Delivered can cost twenty bucks a pie, including the tip. Homemade, even with high quality ingredients, costs a fraction of that. We typically have more choices for vegetable toppings than the local pizza joints.

Our secrets to a great pizza crust- crispy on the bottom yet tender and soft- without kneading or long proofing, are whole wheat flour and olive oil. (If you have only white flour, see this recipe.) Pans without holes in the bottom are essential.

While buying big blocks of cheese and grating it myself would save money, I wait for eight-ounce bags of grated cheese to go on sale so I can pop several in the freezer for occasions like pizza. In the summer, we make tomato sauce to freeze in eight-ounce containers. Small cans of plain tomato sauce also work in a pinch, so are useful to keep on hand.

For one large fourteen-inch pizza crust:

Pizza Fridays

Veggie Pizza

The Cadet and G-man both love pizza so we have one almost every Friday.  It is a simple, tasty way to entice them to eat vegetables and to try new foods. G-man likes to help make the dough, and really likes to add the toppings. He joyfully sprinkles cheese on the creation, sneaking a few handfuls for himself.


If we were to order in instead, the sodium content would be prohibitive for Stealthy Dad. One slice of Pizza Hut's Veggie Lover's on Hand-Tossed crust contains 530mg of sodium. Casey's Vegetable Pizza contains 671mg.  A slice of Domino's Hand Tossed: 405mg,  a slice of Papa John's medium Garden Fresh: 500mg.


As prepared in the photo above, each slice (1/8 of the pizza) contains about 180mg sodium. This is what it is made of: