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I make home made pizza using a very thin crust to minimize the carbs, and a reasonable amount of cheese (not too much), a good amount of sauce, and fresh vegetables, onion, green pepper, and turkey pepperoni, but hey it's still pizza.
I make home made pizza using a very thin crust to minimize the carbs, and a reasonable amount of cheese (not too much), a good amount of sauce, and fresh vegetables, onion, green pepper, and turkey pepperoni, but hey it's still pizza.
Real Italian food isn't fattening or unhealthy. Italians are one of the slimmest people in Europe. Is the Americanized version with lots of cheese, thick stuffed crust, heavy sauces and huge portions that's unhealthy.
Stay away from cheesy pepperoni pizza, garlic bread, and chicken Parmesan. That's not Italian.
Instead of "Italian dressing," top your salads with olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Instead of marinara sauce, eat pasta al pomodoro or spaghetti alla puttanesca.
For healthier pizza-like food try use pita bread, tortilla, matzo, cauliflower, zucchini, portobello mushrooms...
Make your own tomato sauce or just use sliced tomatoes - less fuss and just as much flavor.
Experiment with hummus or even BBQ sauce.
Alternative to pepperoni could be grilled chicken, shrimp, tuna, lox, scrambled eggs, or just veggies. Follow your imagination.
Ever tried pizza with fruit? Delicious!
Grilled peaches, apples, figs, pineapple... with little goat cheese or Gorgonzola. Skip the gobs of shredded stuff and add some fresh mozzarella instead. Or goat cheese.
Here are some nice recipes to try: https://www.eatthis.com/healthy-pizza-recipes/ https://www.delish.com/cooking/recip...healthy-pizza/
Happy cooking!
This is so true and I can't stress it enough. I lived in Italy and it's extremely rare to see anyone especially under 60 overweight much less obese. Italians don't load their food with cheese and fat. Lasagna in the part of Italy I'm familiar with has no mozzarella on it at all and people there wouldn't even recognize what lasagna looks like in the U.S. It's the same thing with pizza. It's the same thing with sauces. Various sauces are used to color the food and give it flavor and they are used sparingly. Never is a pasta dish in Italy smothered with any sauce like you see spaghetti being served here.
Also Italians for the most part eat regular meals. They don't snack on junk food off and on all day. In general, Italians have one of the longest life expediencies in the world even though some of their food is high in gluten and wheat. They still love to eat pasta and have bread with their meals but you wouldn't know it by how fit they are.
I try to avoid the bread, not the cheese. Cheese is at least filling. I'll do a zoodle bake with sausage or meat, other veggies, sauce and mozzarella and parm.
Same with doing a more "Italianized" version of ratatouille. I add chicken, futz with the veggies a bit (no celery, add mushrooms) add a bunch of italian blend herbs and then top each serving with a couple slices of mozz. Very pizza like, without the crust.
Is there anyone else who is sort of a fan of pizza, but prefer other mainly Italian foods that are a little healthier? Mainly just not so much cheese. Spaghetti and meatballs. Meatball sub. Italian sub. Etc.
Do you have a favorite pizza-like, non-pizza food?
Are you making this pizza yourself with your own loving hands, with ingredients you buy in the deli and bakery sections of a reputable food store?
It could be all organic, just like it was in Naples all those years ago.
Or are you buying it made by others who not only use cheap ingredients, but don't care?
Not sure what your goals are but here are some ideas:
Chicken (dice it and boil it)
Ham (fry bits and strain the grease)
Make a homemade marinara sauce with peppers, basil (other your preferred spices) add the chicken, ham and have it with shards made from pizza dough. Dip and scoop. Sort of like those Italian restaurants that give you the side bread in that form (thin pizza bread like dough).
Other sauce/ meat combinations with the pizza bread shards or a ciabatta bread would be:
Traditional Sausage, peppers and onions.
A mix of vegetables or other items: peppers, carrots, mushroom, cauliflower, broccoli.
Italian hot subs are another option. I have fond memories of a pizza ship next to the retailer I worked for in H.S. and College who made the best subs. Irony was it was a Greek guy who owned the little shop and he'd heap a good dose of pepperoni, ham, salami, cheese, et al on a bun and it would absorb all that great essence of the pizza oven. They were so delicious when hot. Had the same effect as The Calzone on George Steinbrenner in Seinfeld.
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