The SparkPeople Cookbook: A Recipe for Healthy Pizza Margherita

Meg-herita Pizza

You’ve probably heard of Pizza Margherita, the traditional Italian pizza with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and olive oil. The story goes that it was created to honor the queen and includes all three colors of the Italian flag.

This pizza includes those same colors but bumps up the nutrition a bit. Instead of white-flour dough, we’re using our dough made partly with quinoa and flaxseeds; tangy, creamy goat cheese instead of mozzarella; grape tomatoes; and a puree of basil and spinach instead of plain basil. The result is a pizza that’s light enough to fit into a well-balanced meal and tasty enough to fulfill the craving for a really great pie.

Makes 8 servings: 1 slice per serving (see note)

For the dough: 20 minutes to prepare, 1 hour to rise.

For the pizza: 25 minutes to prepare and cook.

Ingredients
1 recipe Quinoa-Flaxseed Pizza Dough (see following pages)
1 recipe Better-than-Pesto Puree (see following pages)
1 c grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
4 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled

Directions
1. Raise the oven rack to the highest level, then preheat oven to 400° F. If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat.
2. Place the dough on a pizza screen or preheated stone, spread with the pesto, then scatter the tomatoes and cheese across the top.
3. Bake until the dough is nicely browned and crispy, 18 to 20 minutes.

Note: Pizza pans vary in size. We base our recipes on a 16-inch pan with eight slices per pie.

Per serving: 219.9 calories, 9.7 g total fat, 3.3 mg cholesterol, 181.6 mg sodium, 28 g total carbs, 2.7 g dietary fiber, 5.7 g protein