I like to walk around the grocery store aisles in search of inspiration. I easily found what I was looking for…Greek yogurt. I’ve never tried it, but I’ve been told the stuff with the fruit mixed in is really yummy. It’s extra thick, rich, and creamy. The fruity stuff won’t work for my pizza though. I decide on the plain kind.
My friend, Emily, who was shopping with me said, “Ew.”
“We’re going to experiment,” I told her. I grab more items for my pizza that looked a little different…marinated artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, and feta. Emily is always up for trying my experiments, but I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about the yogurt.
The obvious choice for a Greek pizza crust is pita bread. I chose whole-wheat pitas for the extra nutritional punch and place 4 on a cookie sheet. They are the perfect size for individual pizzas. If you have a picky eater, you can omit any ingredient on their pizza. I do tell my kiddos that they have to try everything at least twice before they decide if they don’t like it. I also advise them that all the flavors are supposed to work together and form a new flavor that they might actually like. I understand the problem for some kids can be a texture thing. I have a trick for this too (read on).
The next step is the sauce. I tasted the yogurt and decided that the tang needed to be tamed slightly.
I sautéed red onions and garlic in a little olive oil just until the onions were translucent. Then I added fresh spinach, and lots of it!
Spinach is a stress relieving, heart pumping, cancer fighter, packed with vitamin C that we should all become fonder of. Fill the pan with spinach. Fill it, fill it, fill it! It will quickly cook down with the other ingredients. Remove the pan from the heat so the spinach retains as much of those powerful nutrients as possible.
Add the spinach mixture to 8 oz. of plain, nonfat, Greek yogurt in a medium sized bowl. Mix well and spread on top of your pitas.
It’s topping time. You can get as crazy as you want here. I love to load up on veggies, but I’m sure grilled chicken would work just swell too.
In addition to my marinated artichoke hearts and Kalamata olives, I added baby Portobello mushrooms and Roma tomatoes. You could definitely leave the mushrooms in slices and the artichokes in big chunks, but my trick for getting picky eaters (kids and adults) to try new flavors is to chop everything the same size, the smaller the better.
Because I had willing taste testers this time, I decided to chop my veggies relatively the same size as the olives (a little bigger than I would do for kids). Divide up the veggies for each pizza and top with a light sprinkling of feta cheese. Of course, my non-chalky cheese-eating friends could substitute mozzarella cheese here.
Broil the pizzas for a couple minutes. You only need to crisp up the edges and slightly melt the cheese. Keep watching the pizzas. They can burn quickly if left in too long or are too close to the elements.
These are F A B U L O U S, if I do say so myself! I’ve accomplished what I set out for: a simple, quick, unique pizza. Enjoy!
Supplies Needed:
4 whole-wheat pitas
¼ cup red onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T. olive oil
SPINACH (2 giant handfuls works well)
4 oz. plain, nonfat, Greek yogurt
½ cup chopped baby Portobello mushrooms
½ cup Kalamata olives
½ cup marinated artichoke hearts
1 Roma tomato, chopped
Feta cheese
