Healthy (or at least healthier) pizza Butternut squash, Kale ...

[LeslieDean]

We have a brother that owns a very nice Flatbread and Wine Bar in Tulsa. It is a very nice restaurant. It is a national chain (Naples Flatbread and Wine Bar). I have been given some pointer for making individual pizzas at home.

First get a pizza stone and place in the oven at 350 to warm it for 25-30 minutes. Next about 20 minutes prior to putting the pizza in the oven crank it up to 450-500 degrees to get the stone nice and hot.

I bought two kinds of bread (Naan and Lavash flat bread) they were both excellent.

I bought the diced butternut squash (I know--I'm getting lazy for sure) and tossed in it a little olive oil and roasted it the day before using. I also took kale and washed it. cutting it off the stem then tore it into large pieces and misted it olive oil and sprinkled sea salt on it. Ypu put this in the oven for about 7-8 mins then remove and let cool. I did this the night before too because it would take to long to do it all at once since my schedule now includes classes.

I fried applewood smoke bacon (Jerry--do I have your attention now?) and took a vegtable peeler and shaved of smoked mozzarella cheese into a little pile.

Then take 1 cup of a good Balsalmic vinegar and simmer it with 2 T brown sugar. Simmer about 10-15 minutes till it coats the back of a spoon and is syrupy. Mmmmmm. Good.

I then took the Naan bread and brushed a thin coat of truffle oil on it and placed it on the pizza stone for just a couple of minutes. Till the bubbles started to rise on the bread. Then I removed the bread and smeared a thin coat of cream cheese that has been processed with a cup of low fat cottage cheese and fresh basil leaves on top of the bread. Lovingly place the cubes of roasted butternut squash around the bread, add the bacon pieces that have been broken into inch squares, the kale chips and the shaving of smoked mozzarella cheese. Put back in oven that has been reduced to 350degrees and cook till bread and cheese is brown and bubbly.

Remove from oven and drizzle on the Balsalmic reduction. Hello my little friend! Enjoy! This was so good that even the rednecks at the bar wanted more. Now that is saying something.

The Lavash bread gets crispy like a cracker which is my favorite. I hate thick, chewy bread because you can only eat one piece. This way you get more of the good stuff!

I now prepare all the topping ahead of time and it just takes about 7-8 minutes to fix this pizza if everything has been prepared the day before.

[LeslieDean]

Made the BBQ chicken pizza tonight and used the spinach tortilla as the crust. Crisped the tortilla in the oven and then I had a roastisser chicken I shredded and added encough BBQ sauce to light coat the chicken.  Dotted the tortilla with the meat, added carmelized onions and roasted red peppers and mushrooms.  Topped with mozzerella cheese and returned under broier to melt the cheese.  So easy and very flavorful!