Homemade Pizza Night: Greek-Style

I love to bring along a lot of things to read to pass the time when I travel. Thanks to a readership program I began participating in a few years ago, I get a load of good magazines every month – from Cosmopolitan to Wine Enthusiast. When I went to Amsterdam a few weeks ago, one of the reads I brought with me was an issue of Islands magazine. I enjoy reading this magazine because A.) I love to rip out pages of places I want to go to one day, and B.) They publish a lot of articles that discuss culture and people from around the world, which I find really interesting.

In the Islands issue I read on one of my plane rides, I found one article particularly intriguing. It was about the Aegean Greek island of Ikaria, where people are four times more likely to reach the age of 90 than Americans. Per capita, the island has the world’s highest number of people over that age. What are some of the Ikarians’ secrets to leading longer lives with less instances of heart disease and cancer?

• Get moving! The people on this island are constantly walking around their mountainous villages.
• Consume wild greens – The island’s inhabitants eat a lot of veggies that they pick themselves. Thyme, mint, oregano, spinach, kale, chard… They grow it, they eat it.
• Drink large quantities of red wine – Enough said, you don’t have to tell me twice. 🙂
• Be a nap taker.
• Feel a sense of belonging and have an easy sense of humor.

It seems to me that another reason why these islanders live so long is that they keep their anxiety levels at bay. The article notes that people don’t stress about being late, and they take their sweet time doing things (which, let’s be honest, may just be an elderly person trait in general!). What I took away from this article are things that seem like common sense for a long, happy life: not stressing out over trivial things, exercising, eating veggies, lots of laughter, wine and naps… CHECK! I’m certainly going to continue to do my best to live my life following all of these “‘rules.”

In line with this post’s theme of Greek awesomeness, tonight’s dinner was a Mediterranean homemade pizza! This was the gist of it:

I prepped green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, spinach, red onion, and roasted red pepper:

I rolled my whole wheat pizza dough out:

Instead of using a red sauce, I put together a light dressing to coat the dough with to compliment my veggies:

Next, I brushed the dressing and evenly arranged the veggies and cheese onto the dough, then baked until lightly browned:

It was a healthy, delicious new pizza recipe that I’ll definitely be making again! You can find the full recipe below.

Greek-Style Pizza

Foodie Loves Fitness

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Servings 8

Calories 195 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 whole wheat pizza dough I use the Trader Joe's brand
• 6 oz Feta cheese crumbles Mediterranean style
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 2 cups raw spinach
• 1/4 red onion
• 1 roasted red pepper
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 TBSP red wine vinegar
• 1/4 TSP garlic powder
• 1/2 TSP dried basil
• 1/2 TSP oregano
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Chop up the peppers, onion, and tomatoes into thin slices.
• Using a flour-dusted rolling pin, shape your dough into a large circle on a flour-dusted surface. Place in a pizza pan.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic powder and basil.
• Lightly brush the dough with the olive oil mixture.
• Arrange all of the veggies onto the dough evenly.
• Sprinkle the cheese on top, and season with salt & pepper.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 195kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 9gFat: 7g

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!