Power Pizza

My Power Pizza recipe is loosely adapted from the Power Pizza recipe in the book "The Sneaky Chef" by Missy Chase Lapine. I love this cookbook and it has inspired me in recent months to beef up our regular food and make it even healthier! It's so much fun to "sneak things in" especially things that kids don't readily eat or that my hubby doesn't care for plain.

Dough: I make this in my bread machine

11/3 C. warm water

3/4 t. sea salt

3 T. olive oil

2 C. whole wheat flour

2 C. unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3-1/2 C. white bean puree (made from cooked navy beans blended with a little water--freeze these ahead of time in baby food jars and you can just nuke one to add to the pizza dough).

2 t. yeast

I pull it out of my machine after an hour and a half and lightly spray two cookie sheets with oil. I sprinkle a little garlic salt on the pans before rolling the dough out. I usually use whatever spaghetti sauce we have on hand (or blend up a can of diced tomatoes with some salt) and mix 1/3 of sweet potato puree in with the sauce before spreading over the pizza. We almost always make mushroom pizza (not pictured here) so I saute mushrooms in a little butter with garlic salt and add them to pizza. I also like sauted onions and green peppers on my pizza (pictured above). The kids like olives! Daddy likes olives or mushrooms and onions.

Next we put a mix of shredded mozarella and cheddar on top of the pizza and bake on the top rack for about 15 minutes. The crust gets perfectly done, not too brown, not to doughy, and this pizza tastes finer than any in any restaurant! The beans make the crust so tasty; I'm not sure how, but they really do!

Other tasty variations: Use parmesan or asiago cheese on top

Veggie Pizza: Grill thin zuchinni and yellow squash slices with onions and mushrooms and peppers.

Hawaiin: Chopped pineapples and tiny chunks/slices of ham

Mexican Pizza: Use refried beans, cooked hamburger, or both and spread over uncooked crust. Spread a layer of salsa, a layer of shredded cheddar, and some olives, if desired. Top with crushed tortilla chips and bake. After baking you can add shredded lettuce on top if you desire.

Other sneaky variation:

I've used spinach puree in the pizza sauce but it turns the sauce a blackish color. The cheese and mushrooms cover it up and the color didn't bother me, but kids probably wouldn't eat it!