Make your own | Pizza Pie!

So I am 100% a pizza lover. That's amore, right there. Pizza, however, does not love me... well not my waistline anyways. (and no, don't judge me on the fact that I had Pepe's yesterday...) And while I love most pizza places equally, there are a few pizza pies that make me drool and that the thought of them alone makes my tastebuds pop. Before I go into the tasty (and relatively healthy) pizzas that tt and I make at home, let's countdown my 5 most favorite pizzas of all time:

5. Joey Garlic's, Newington, CT | BROCCOLI RABE AND SAUSAGE

This is a white pizza with mozzarella, broccoli rabe, sausage, garlic, romano, hot cherry peppers and EVOO and it is worth every glorious calorie. Most of the time, tt and I will order the Gary & Mary's Garden pizza which is loaded up with amazing veggies. But when we want to splurge a little, we go for the broccoli rabe and sausage. It is seriously out of this world
| www.joeygarlics.com/

4. Madison's, Albany, NY | CHICKEN PARM

So, my GF and I used to frequent Madison's back when I still lived in NY (cleverly named, since it is located on Madison Ave in Albany). As I was thinking about my top 5 favorite pizzas, and believe me, I could come up with a top 10 list... I realized that the chicken parm pizza from this place just HAD to be on the list. It has certainly been a little while (try like 10 years..) I remember this pizza to be the perfect amount of cheese, sauce and chicken, dolloped with ricotta cheese, and finished with just the right amount of grease
| http://www.madisonspizza.com/

3. Sally's, New Haven, CT | WHITE POTATO

Picture this: sliced up potato, onion, imported Parmesan  and rosemary - this is how Sally's Apizza does it, and this answers any question I may have had about which New Haven pizza place is the best... {And may Flora 'Flo' Consiglio, who recently passed away, RIP}
| http://sallysapizza.com/

2. Mistral, Boston, MA | BEEF TENDERLOIN

And if you want your mind to be even more blown, let's construct the potato pizza at Mistral. Beef tenderloin. Mashed Potatoes. White Truffle Oil. Hoooooly Hannah. If you know me, you know I love potatoes... particularly, mashed potatoes. And Mistral does it in the most delectable, and classy way. This is also, BTdubbs, my most favoritest restaurant on earth
| http://mistralbistro.com/ 

1. Murphy & Scarletti's, formerly located in Farmington, CT | BUFFALO CHICKEN 

This pizza would knock your socks off.... if you could still get it. The bar closed last year... worst day of my life. It will forever be ingrained in my memory as THE best pizza of all time. Pizza + buffalo chicken + chunks of ooey gooey melty blue cheese. While it was a great drunken treat (we used to frequent Murphys on Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday nights for vodka red bulls/beers, pool and pizza...and selfies in the bathroom) - the pizza was enough that this historic bar should have stayed in business, but alas, I will forever be in search of a buffalo chicken pizza that even remotely lives up to this one. 

And on that note... I bring you, my healthy make your own pizza.. lame.

recipe courtesy of: yours truly

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat crust (Boboli works, I use the Stop & Shop brand individual crusts, or 1 large)

Drizzle EVOO

Pizza sauce (again, I use S&S brand- love it, and not too much junk in it)

Reduced Fat Shredded Cheese - mozzarella or Italian blend

Veggies: peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, etc - sky is the limit, I usually season with Italian seasonings

Meat: anything works, but if you are keeping it healthy, Italian seasoned turkey actually is quite like sausage, and you can obv get turkey pepperoni. 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Meanwhile, brown any meat you are using (besides pepperoni), and cook veggies until soft.
3. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil (shiny side down!) and then place 1 large crust or 2 individual crusts on sheet. Brush crusts with olive oil and spoon sauce onto them, and top with a handful of shredded cheese.
4. Once meat/veggies are cooked, add to the top of pizzas.
5. When oven is preheated, reduce heat to 400, and put pizzas in.
6. Cook pizzas according to package instructions, probably somewhere in the 10 minute range.