Pizza - Self Style

I don't know how I feel about polenta crust.  I'm not a huge polenta fan, and I just don't get how it can be crispy, but I guess I'd be willing to try it out some time, you know, just in case it's awesome.

Pepperoni Polenta Pizza

Serves 6  

1/2 cup instant plain polenta

1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 cup thinly sliced onion1/4 cup diced red and/or green bell pepper 
2 teaspoons olive oil 
1/2 cup prepared marinara sauce 
10 slices reduced-fat pepperoni 
1/3 cup seeded and diced tomato 
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano 
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat (part skim) mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. For crust, bring 2 1/4 cups water to a boil. Whisk in polenta and salt. Reduce heat and whisk 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Pour into a 9" pie plate or cake tin, cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge to chill to room temperature. Meanwhile, sauté onion and pepper with oil in a nonstick skillet until onion is soft, about 2 minutes. Pour marinara sauce over crust. Add onion, pepper, pepperoni, tomato, and oregano; salt and pepper to taste. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and cook 2 more minutes or until cheese melts. Cut into 6 slices; serve immediately.

the skinny

97 calories per serving, 3 g fat (1 g saturated), 13 g carbs, 5 g protein


And since I'm always searching for healthy crust options (I'm sorry, I know pizza isn't healthy, but I just can't give it up), maybe I'll give their dough recipe a whirl as well.

Makes 8 individual crusts  

1 tablespoon molasses 

1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast 

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt 

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour 

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 

Vegetable-oil cooking spray

1. In a large bowl, combine molasses and yeast with 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water. Stir. Set aside until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add salt and oil and stir. In a separate bowl, mix flours together. Add yeast mixture to flours and stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms. Divide dough into 8 portions. (Freeze any unused dough.) Using hands, roll dough into balls, coat fully with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Prepare a charcoal, gas or stovetop grill. Grill should be very hot. Position grilling rack 3 or 4 inches from heat source. Flour a baking sheet. With hands, flatten a ball of dough into an 8-inch circle on baking sheet. Using fingertips, gently lift dough, and set it on the grill. When dough puffs and underside stiffens (about 1 minute for gas or charcoal, several minutes for stovetop grill), flip crust with a spatula; move to the coolest part of the grill. Top according to the recipes above.

The skinny

252 calories per crust, 5 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 45 g carbs, 3.5 g fiber, 6 g protein