Foodie Friday Giveaway: Gourmet, Healthy Frozen Pizzas from A.C. LaRocco!

Who here doesn’t love pizza?? Pizza is one of those amazing, wonderful foods that’s comforting, warm, easy to make and pretty much available anywhere you go in the world. Trust me on that last one – I think my husband and I have eaten pizza in every single country we’ve ever visited. I love pizza, but I especially love when you can “dress up” pizza with fun toppings like gorgonzola cheese, pears, & walnuts; or feta and roasted tomatoes. I don’t usually eat pizza that often, because unless I make it myself it’s hard to find a “healthy” pizza that still tastes great.

Which is why, I was SO excited when A.C. LaRocco contacted me to try their gourmet, healthy frozen pizzas and partner with them on a giveaway! These pizzas are some of the best frozen pizzas I’ve ever tried. They come in eight delicious gourmet flavors like: Greek Sesame, Spinach & Artichoke, Tomato & Feta, Bruschetta Style on Sprouted Grain Dough, and Garlic Chicken Parmesan!

So why are these pizzas healthy? To start, ALL of the pizzas are made with all-natural organic ingredients. All of the doughs are made with organic whole grain / whole wheat or sprouted grain which makes the pizzas super high in fiber. All of the cheeses used are low fat and REAL (not processed, no additives). Most of the pizzas have TONS of veggies on them, and all of the pizzas can be eaten guilt free! The whole wheat dough variety average about 200-250 calories, 9-10g fiber and ~13g protein for 1/3 of a pizza; and the sprouted grain dough are about 350-450 calories for one WHOLE pizza (with about 2g fiber and 20g protein per pizza). How awesome is that??

And the best part is, A.C. LaRocco has given me coupons for free pizzas to share with all of you!

Two lucky readers will have the opportunity to win this giveaway:

• The “grand prize” winner will receive 3 coupons (each coupon will get you one free frozen pizza) – so you can try out three of the A.C. LaRocco Varieties!
• The “runner up” winner will receive 2 coupons to try two of the pizza varieties

Now the important part:

To Enter: You can enter in one of three ways –

1. Subscribe to The Picky Eater via RSS or via email
2. Follow me on Twitter (@pickyeaterblog)
3. Like The Picky Eater on Facebook

Leave a comment letting me know which option above you chose! Note – if you already are a subscriber, follower, or like The Picky Eater on Facebook, just leave a comment indicating that – it will count as one entry 

For Extra Entries:

• + 1 Entry if you share this post on Facebook or Twitter
• + 2 Entries if you invite 5 or more of your friends to like The Picky Eater on Facebook!

This giveaway will be open for TWO weeks. It will close on Thursday, March 17th at 11:59pm PST. I will be selecting the winners at random (via random.org) and will contact them via email. I’ll be announcing the winners on Friday, March 18th when I launch my next giveaway! Be sure to enter today–you’ll LOVE these delicious, good-for-you, gourmet, organic pizzas!

 

Easy, Healthy Vegetarian Flatbread!

A few nights ago, I was totally craving pizza. But I was pretty full from a very late lunch, and didn’t want to make a whole pizza to eat for a snack/dinner. After rummaging around in my kitchen a bit, I realized that I had Trader Joe’s sprouted wheat tortillas in the Freezer. These tortillas are super nutritious (170 calories for a HUGE burrito size tortilla, with ~5g fiber and ~5g protein) and when baked, end up being really nice and crispy. So, I decided to throw together a flatbread with some veggies & cheese I had in my fridge. This recipe is SUPER easy to make, has only about 300-350 calories (depending on how much cheese you use) for an ENORMOUS flatbread pizza! It definitely satisfied my craving!

Ingredients

• 1 Trader Joe’s or Ezekiel Sprouted Wheat Tortilla – Burrito Size
• 1 roma tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 1/4 cup – 1/3 cup yellow, orange or red bell pepper, diced
• Pizza sauce: I get the one from Trader Joe’s because it has very little added sugar. That’s the key here when buying pizza sauce – make sure it has very little (<8g) sugar!
• 1/4 cup Shredded Parmesan cheese – or any other favorite cheese you have!

Directions

1. Bake the tortilla in the oven or toaster oven until slightly crispy (not 100%complete)
2. Take the tortilla out of the oven, and top with sauce, veggies & cheese
3. Put the tortilla back in the oven and bake until the tortilla is crispy and the cheese is melted. Eat!!

This is a great dish that takes only 15 min (max) to make! As you can see, you get a HUGE portion for a really balanced meal 🙂

YUM!

 

On a totally separate note – be sure to check out our latest giveaway for specialty olive oil and/or gourmet gluten free bread here!

Easy, Healthy Margherita Pizza Recipe

I love a great, simple pizza. When we were in Italy – the Margherita Pizza was one of our favorites! Of course – it’s an indulgent meal since it usually has very little fiber (white flour for the pizza dough) and is high in fat (full fat mozzarella + olive oil). So – I decided to recreate the recipe at home and make it a lot healthier!  Recipe is below – enjoy!

Ingredients

• Fresh whole wheat pizza dough (Trader Joe’s is my favorite – but I’m sure you can find it at any health food store)
• Cooking spray
• 1 Tsp olive oil
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 4-5 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (if you can find a good low fat variety, mix half of that with half of the full fat version)
• 1-5 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (basically, use this to taste – if you are a huge balsamic fan, put more, if not – put less 🙂 )
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Directions

1. Spread the whole wheat dough on a pizza pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes (until the crust starts to puff up). When you pull it out of the oven, it looks like this:

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2. Brush crust with 1 tsp olive oil, sprinkle minced garlic evenly over the crust.

3. Top with sliced tomatoes until entire crust is covered, leaving a half inch border. It will look like this:

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4. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes (until cheese / crust starts to become golden)

5. Remove from oven, sprinkle pizza evenly with sliced basil. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over pizza. Cut and serve!

Finished pizza, sprinkled with basil

With balsamic vinegar

Nutritional Information (approximate – per slice):

Calories: 150-175

Fiber: ~4g

Protein: ~8-10g

Barbecue Black Bean, Red Pepper, and Corn Pizza!

I remember the first time I ate a black bean pizza – it was at CPK and I had ordered their Tostada pizza. It was sooo yummy and I wanted to recreate it in a healthier version. Then I saw a recipe on EatingWell.com for a Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza, and I decided to combine the two recipes to create a version of my own! My modified recipe is below – you can access the EatingWell recipe in the link above.

Ingredients

• Whole wheat pizza dough (I like Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough!)
• 4-5 Tbsp Barbecue sauce (Try to get one with the least amount of sugar – Trader Joe’s has a great variety – picture at the end of this post)
• 1 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
• 1 15oz can black beans
• 1 8oz can corn
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread out the dough on a pizza pan, spread the barbecue sauce on top

2. Heat a large pan over medium heat, add 1 tsp olive oil, black beans, diced red onion and chili powder – cook until heated through and onions begin to caramelize (5-10 min)

3. Spread black bean mixture over barbecue sauce

4. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Then sprinkle diced red pepper and corn on top of the cheese.

5. Bake in oven for 10-15 min (depending on pizza dough and heating instructions)

6. Remove from oven, drizzle 1 Tbsp barbecue sauce over the pizza. Serve and enjoy!

Approximate Nutritional Information: My estimates are, if you cut the pizza into 8 slices (and are using the Trader Joe’s whole wheat dough), each slice should have about 150-200 calories!

Trader Joe's Barbecue Sauce

Black Bean Mixture

Pizza right before baking

Finished Pizza, ready to eat!

Creamy Asparagus Soup and Goat Cheese Pita Pizzettes!

Tonight I was looking for a healthy, light, summer supper. And I came across this great recipe a few weeks ago from The Duo Dishes for a creamy asparagus soup – and I decided that tonight was a great night to try it! I also threw together Whole Wheat Pita Pizzettes which turned out great (recipe to follow). So first – the soup. Thanks Duo Dishes! I loved your recipe. I did make a few minor modifications to it – so my modified recipe is below. The original is here.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb asparagus spears, trimmed and chopped in 1 inch pieces
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 10 green onions, chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 15 ounces chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup flat parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted and finely chopped
• Freshly grated parmesean cheese (1 tbsp per bowl of soup)
• Garlic salt
• Black Pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot, add olive oil, onions and garlic over medium heat. Let mixture sweat, but do not let the garlic burn.

2. Once the onions have turned translucent (about 5 min), add the stock and chickpeas. Increase heat to medium high allow come to a boil. Add asparagus and cooks until tender but not limp. Add half of parsley and stir until incorporated.

3. Blend ingredients (I used a hand blender which worked great – I just took the pot off the heat and blended it in right in the pot!) If you don’t have a hand blender, you can use a regular blender: With a slotted spoon, scoop solid ingredients into a blender. Pour in half of the remaining broth. Blend until just smooth.

4. Add lemon juice, parsley and pine nuts. Continue to blend. (If you are using a regular blender – this is where you’d add the rest of the broth as well).

5. Add garlic salt and black pepper to taste

6. Top each bowl with 1 Tbsp fresh parmesean cheese

Enjoy!

Soup fully blended

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Whole Wheat Pita Pizzettes with ….Goat Cheese, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Basil, Garlic 🙂

Ingredients

• Whole wheat pita bread (each pita bread should have no more than 140 calories per round, and 3-4g fiber)
• Fresh goat cheese
• Fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 2 Roma Tomatoes, thinly sliced
• Red onion – diced
• 1/2 red pepper – diced
• 2 cloves garlic – minced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Black pepper

Directions

1. Mix the garlic and olive oil. Using a pastry brush, lightly spread on both sides of the pita. On a panini press or a grill pan, grill the pita on both sides until crispy.

2. Crumble the goat cheese on the pita (I put a light layer of crumbles because you don’t need that much cheese to get the great goat cheese flavor!)

3. Spread the tomato slices, diced red pepper & red onion on top of the goat cheese. Top with fresh basil slices.

4. Use 1/4 tsp of the garlic olive oil mixture and sprinkle on top of the pizette.

5. If you have a toaster oven, toast on low for 3-4 min. If you don’t have a toaster oven, you can put the pizzettes under a broiler for 3-4 min until the cheese and ingredients are warmed through.

6. Top with a sprinkle of black pepper.

Finished Product

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Dinner is Served!

This dinner turned out to be so great – and was light enough for a summer evening! Also – I think 1 bowl of soup and 1 pizzette is probably no more than 450-500 calories, and has tons of fiber (asparagus, chickpeas and the whole wheat pita are all super high in fiber).

Homemade Healthy Pizza

My husband LOVES pizza. He’s like a pizza addict. And I like pizza too – don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t eat it as often because I never knew how to make a healthy version of it at home – so I’d only eat it if we went to a restaurant. But now – with the help of Trader Joes, I have an awesome recipe for healthy homemade pizza that I thought I’d share 🙂 So here we go….

Ingredients 

– Whole wheat fresh pizza dough. If you have a Trader Joes near you – they carry a great version of this dough (picture below). 1/8 of the dough (which is basically one slice of pizza) has ~110 calories and 2-3g fiber!

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Low fat pizza sauce (check the ingredients and make sure there’s no added sugar! That’s where all the unnecessary calories from pizza sauce comes from). I love Trader Joes’ pizza sauce 🙂

– 3/4 red bell pepper (diced)

– 1/2 red onion (diced)

– Baby spinach leaves

– 1 tomato (cut into thin slices)

– 2 cloves garlic (minced)

– 1 cup Fresh grated Parmesan cheese (you don’t have to use the whole cup – that’s the max amount we have ever used)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2. Lightly spray a pizza pan with cooking spray – use as the base to spread out the dough. One tip for spreading out the dough – don’t try to use a rolling pin if you’re using the Trader Joes dough! Use your hands (sprinkle flour on the dough and on your hands), knead it, and then spread it with the palms of your hands. It should look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Once the dough is spread out, top with pizza sauce.

4. Sprinkle garlic, red pepper, onion and tomato slices over the sauce

5. Top with grated Parmesan and spinach leaves

6. Bake in the oven for 10-12 min until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling/slightly golden

Enjoy! I can’t give you exact calorie counts, but my guess is each slice should have around ~200-250 calories and ~3-4g fiber 🙂