Recipe: A Healthy Option to Stop Those Pizza Cravings

Until recently, the weekend meant at least one pizza for me. I have a serious pizza addiction, pepperoni, always! So this weekend, while enjoying a relaxing night in after a difficult week of trying to adapt to a new way of eating, the pizza cravings hit me hard! I was absolutely determined not to give in, so I decided not only to save myself the bloating and sick feeling I get after a pizza, but to also save myself the money of ordering one in. I had a few things left in the fridge after the week that I wanted to use up instead of wasting them and I improvised this recipe. I really didn't think this was going to turn out as amazing as it was, but lets face it...if it has melted cheese, it's most likely good! 

I really enjoyed this, it was delicious, easy to make and I feel great after it! I made a carb free version using aubergine slices as the base, but if you aren't a fan of aubergine (like my fussy eater of a boyfriend) you can use a wholemeal wrap as the base instead. He loved this and even agreed that the sauce was "sauce-some"!!! I apologise, but I love terrible puns!! But to be fair, the sauce is amazing. The recipe makes enough sauce for two servings of pizza and you can put the rest in a jar and keep it in the fridge to use as a pasta sauce later in the week. I'm treating this as a little "cheat" as I don't think I should be eating melted cheese every day!! If you try it, I hope you enjoy it :)

Recipe

For the Sauce

1 carton of passata (250g)

2 cloves of garlic

Splash of olive oil

Basil

Salt & Pepper

For the Base

1 inch slices of aubergine, Frylite, Salt & Pepper

Or a wholemeal wrap

For the Toppings

Grated cheese

Parma ham

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Slice the aubergine, place the slices on a baking sheet, spray with Frylite and season. Put the slices in the oven while you make the sauce.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic until it starts to brown.
3. Add the passata and the basil, bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
4. When the sauce is ready, top each aubergine slice or the wholemeal wrap with some sauce.
5. Slice the parma ham and add this to your "pizza" and top with a small amount of grated cheese.
6. Pop in the oven for ten minutes and finish under the grill for 2-3 minutes.

The lighting wasn't great when I took the pictures but the important thing is that they taste great!

Let me know if you try them!

Niamh xxx