Eating healthy sure doesn't mean giving up your favourite treats, and it doesn't always mean saving up all your calories for one big blow out 'cheat meal'. By making some adaptations to unhealthy fast food items, you can make alternative healthier versions that are equally as tasty, and don't leave you feeling bloated and guilty afterwards. As healthy eating is about nourishing your body with great food, not punishing it with garbage food, or bullying your wellbeing by saying bad things about yourself after eating certain foods. Food is definitely there to be enjoyed.
My good friend Janine from NutsAndBlueberries had a wonderful idea for an event to get more bloggers to interact with each other and share their tips and passion for healthy eating and food photography which she called the Blog Carnival #healthyfastfood4. You can click that link to read her post about it, and to join!
Being a food blogger is quite a lonely experience, and one of the biggest issues I have faced since moving away from my corporate career, and starting blogging full time. Once the kids are at school, it's just me by myself in the house, with no one to talk to. That's definitely where I've gained even more from my social media community, especially my Instagram, where I get so much enjoyment out of chatting to likeminded friends every day, and sharing pieces of our lives with those that are interested in the same things.
I love exercising and making healthy food and photographing it. The creativity of it, and working with other passionate people is certainly what drives me every day, as well as being a great role model for my kids. So it's nice to have an event where we can share and learn more from our online community. So definitely check out the Blog Carnival and meet some other great bloggers along the way.
In today's recipe I'll share a really easy idea for a healthy fast food pizza. It uses one of my biggest healthy eating mottos "If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail". Preparation has been absolutely key to my long term healthy eating success and weightloss. If you have the basics of healthy food ready to go in your fridge, pantry or freezer, then you'll always have something on hand when you're starving and in a rush. So you can whip up a healthy meal, without reaching or calling for an unhealthy alternative. Both the sauce and the pizza base in this recipe can be pre-made and frozen, when you do have some time, so that you can just thaw it out and use it when you don't have time.
You can see this pizza base used in my Vegan Salt and Vinegar Potato Pizza, and the Kale Sauce used as a pizza base here is from my Creamy Kale and Leek Pasta Sauce recipe. So both are great recipes to use for lots of different meals if you prepare them ahead, and for the sauce, you divide up and store in portions in the freezer.
I hope you give it a try.
Jo xx
Healthy Fast Food Pizza
(Serves 1-2)
Gluten Free Pizza Crust
1 & 1/2 cups GF All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp granulated stevia (or granulated sweetener of choice)
1 x 7g sachet of yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp pink himalayan salt
Mix the yeast, water and stevia in a bowl, and leave for 5 minutes.
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, and add the prepared yeast mixture and oil.
Combine together into a dough.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until elastic.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and put in a warm place place for 30 minutes.
Punch the dough and knead again.
Roll out to desired shape and thickness and place on a lined baking tray.
Cook at 240C for 10-15mins until lightly golden.
(Cool, wrap well, and freeze for later use, or move on to the toppings step)
Creamy Kale and Leek Pasta Sauce
(Makes 4 Cups of Sauce)
375g chopped raw cauliflower florets
1 onion sliced
1 leek sliced
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp cayenne
2 and 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp kala namak salt
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2 crushed garlic cloves (or 2 tsp crushed garlic)
100g torn kale leaves (hard stalks removed)
Place the cauliflower, onion, and leek on a lined baking tray and drizzle with the coconut oil.
Sprinkle over the thyme and cayenne and mix around until coated.
Bake at 180C for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer to a pot and add the vegetable stock.
Bring to the boil and then lower heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the kale leaves and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer to a high speed blender or use a stick mixer and blend until smooth.
Add more stock as required to your desired consistency.
Divide into portions and freeze any remaining sauce for later use.
Pizza Assembly
Spread desired amount of sauce on prepared pizza base.
Top with sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced spanish red onion, and sliced kalamata olives and bake in the oven at 180C/350F for 15 minutes. Add some pine nuts in the last 5 minutes of cooking so that they can lightly brown.
Top with fresh basil leaves.