A "Supreme" makeover!

Being from a VERY Italian family, there is nothing I love more than good Italian food. However, sometimes good Italian food comes with a good amount of calories! And every once and awhile those "calorie splurges" are worth it -- but, I crave Italian food WAY too frequently to "splurge" that often! So, I decided t makeover one of my favorite foods -- supreme pizza. To me, there's nothing better than coming home on a Friday night & curling up with Ev, a movie & a pizza! So, here are my substitutes, switches & tips to satisfying that craving WITHOUT undoing my hard work for the week!



















#1. Substitute your regular "white" pizza dough for whole wheat dough -- most all grocery stores now carry the "ready made" doughs in both versions and it's an easy way to get in your whole grains!

#2. The trick to not noticing the whole grain pizza crust, is a flavorful pizza sauce. I'm personally a fan of "doctoring up" pasta sauces, instead of the jarred pizza sauces. I add sauteed onion, fresh garlic and other fresh herbs to give it a more flavorful taste.

#3. Veggies Veggies Veggies! Pile them on! It's, again, a way to add extra flavor without the calories & fat! I like my traditional "onions & peppers" supreme pizza topping, sauteed in a little light olive oil -- but to each their own! Remember the olives too!

# 4. Honestly, what would a supreme pizza be without meat? Unfortunately, traditional supreme meats - pepperoni & pork sausage - are full of "bad" fats. My solution -- turkey sausage! Turkey sausage, on average, cuts a whopping 19 grams of fat out and but is still super yummy! (on average regular pork sausage - 25 g of fat, turkey sausage - 6 g!). Brown 3 -4 links in a pan and then sprinkle over the pizza.

#5. And who could forget the cheese!?! Again, I am a HUGE fan of good cheese, so I rather cut my calories else where and use the good cheeses sparingly. However, if you're feeling "extra healthy" - use a 2% or low-fat cheese!

Enjoy!

Oh -- and for the record, the Mr. insisted he have his regular pizza (white dough, cheese & jar sauce) -- he didn't want my "healthy version of pizza".......

.......but when we sat down to eat, he ended up eating mine :-)