Who Said Pizzas Are Junk Food?

Earlier this week, I went to Churchgate for some work. On my way back, I passed by 210 Degrees, a vegetarian cakeshop, frequented by kids from KC College and HR College close by. The place has some lovely cakes, pastries and cookies on offer, and used to be a usual post-lunch pit stop for dessert for me when my office was in Churchgate.

Now those days of gorging on post-lunch desserts have gone past me. But whenever I get a chance, I do pick up some stuff for home.

This time was no different. Besides cakes and cookies, I picked up a pack of pizza bases with me - the crust was pretty thin and made from whole wheat. At that time, I did not give much thought on how to make something different with them - not the run-of-the-mill pizzas that we usually have at home.

Today after being tossed around like a football by the pressures at work, I needed to unwind. Nothing could have been better than a bit of time in the kitchen. And when I realised that, I forgot the crap of the day and my mind raced at the speed of light.

Eureka! I got an idea for a healthy pizza!

My Mom played sport and blanched a good bunch of leafy green spinach. Onions were chopped, mushrooms were sliced. And a different twist - instead of sausage or pepperoni, how about chicken seekhs?

And how about giving the red pizza sauce a miss? Instead using a blend of lovely green pesto with a few table spoons of red sauce for tanginess?

That's how I "built" the pizza, spoon by spoon, slice by slice and chunk by chunk.

The thin whole-wheat base was oiled with the goodness of olive oil, on top of which a generous 2-3 tablespoons of the pesto-red sauce emulsion were added. On top of that went the blanched spinach, followed by chopped onions, sliced mushrooms, sliced chicken seekhs and black olives! A bit of grated cheese was sprinkled on top and all that goodness went into the oven for a good 8 minutes at 250 degrees!

I waited anxiously, looking at the oven every 5 seconds or so.

Then oven buzzed - the 8 minutes were over. Out came the crispy aromatic pizza.

And it smelt delicious, tasted yum and was quite healthy, all to be demolished bite by bite and morsel by morsel! And who said pizzas were all junk? 

For once, I was pleased with myself and I guess Popeye would be glad with me too!