Veggie Whole Wheat Pizza

I love veggie pizza! After spending 2 hours cooking yesterday, I wanted something quick, easy, and delicious. So I grabbed out some leftover veggies, a Boboli Whole Wheat pizza crust, and it took about 15 minutes start to finish for this tasty meal. Here's how:

Ingredients:
1 premade pizza crust ($2.00)
1/4 cup mushrooms ($0.25)
1/4 cup spinach ($0.25)
1/4 cup colored peppers ($0.25)
1/2 cup pizza sauce ($0.25)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella ($0.50)

Preparation:
Preheat oven based on pizza crust directions. Put everything on the pizza, then bake it for around 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Nutrition:
click here

Cost:
Total cost: $3.50 for a pizza, not bad considering ordering one would be less healthy, and about twice as much.

So I still recommend Boboli pizza crusts. They're much better and healthier than delivery pizza, and you can customize them anyway you want. Not to mention they're cheap, tasty, and can be frozen for when you need it!

Come back soon for a fish dish!

A Day Off and a Comeback

So today wasn't so successful in terms of my wannabe gourmet lifestyle. We had chocolate mug cake for breakfast (my boyfriend had an interview so I made him whatever he wanted) which I'll post the recipe for once I make it a little tastier. Then for lunch we turned more of the leftover veggie mix into another warm veggie wrap (for me) and a quesadilla for him - on a side note it was fantastic with a little cayenne pepper hot sauce. For dinner - boring old pasta and sauce, because I was at my class until around 9pm and just didn't feel like making anything labor intensive.

So to make up for it, I'll be making several very tasty items tomorrow! First on the menu: whole wheat waffles with honey-blackberry syrup. Hopefully the simple recipe I've found works well! I'll post it tonight, and update it tomorrow if I make any changes. So here's the deal:

Waffles
2 eggs ($0.50)
2 cups milk ($0.50)
1/4 cup applesauce ($0.15)
2 cups whole wheat flour ($0.15)
1/2 tsp salt (negl. $)
1 tbsp baking powder ($0.05)
chocolate shavings/chips (optional, not in nutrition facts)
non-stick spray (negl.$)

Syrup
1/4 cup honey ($0.25)
1 cup frozen blackberries ($0.75)

Cost
total cost = $2.35, not counting the coffee and juice we had (which might add another $1.00 for a total of $3.35)

Directions
Mix all the waffle ingredients together, don't forget to spray the waffle iron! Pour into waffle iron until golden brown but not burnt. Spray the iron again before making next waffle! Mix all the syrup ingredients in a pot on the stove, cook on low heat while making the waffles. Serve!

So I'm posting the nutrition facts as well. They may seem a little high in some areas, but keep in mind it includes the syrup - so if you don't want that much sugar, eat it plain (boooring!). Also, I've set the serving size a little on the small side because I won't eat a ton - my boyfriend on the other hand will have probably 3 or 4 "servings". So just take this as guidance, not absolute. Also to make it even better, you can use skim milk (I'm using 2%) or cholesterol free egg substitute.

Veggie Mix and My New Best Friend

Ok so I've officially found my new best friend. Well, sort of - if you can be best friends with a website. My point is - NutritionData is a wonderful idea that makes healthy cooking even easier. You can enter your own recipes using pre-listed, detailed ingredients - or you can enter your own nutritional information for ingredients you bought at the store. It's a great way to make sure you're getting the right amount of nutrients in your day-to-day life!

So today was leftover veggie day. The peppers were starting to get moldy, the eggplant was turning brown, so that meant salvaging the rest and making warm veggie wraps! Not only were they delicious - but I almost fell over (in a good way) when I saw the results of the nutritional information. Sure, the sodium content may be a little on the high side - but since my boyfriend doesn't believe on wasting electricity on A/C, we've been sweating up a storm and need to replace some salt.

Here's the recipe, nutritional info, and cost:
(note this is for the full 8 servings - we only made two wraps, and save the veggie mix for later tonight)

Black Beans, canned, with salt ($0.58)
3.5 x Custom Food (129g)

Celery, raw ($0.30)
1.0 x 1 cup chopped (101g)

Cheese, mozzarella, part skim milk, low moisture ($1.00)
0.5 x 1 cup, shredded (113g)

Corn, sweet, yellow, canned, no salt added ($0.50)
1.0 x 1 can (303 x 406) (482g)

Eggplant, raw ($1.25)
.5 x 1 cup, cubes (82g)

Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw ($0.25)
0.5 x 1 cup (89g)

Oil, olive, salad or cooking (negl.$)
2.0 x 1 tsp (4g)

Peppers, sweet, green, raw ($0.50)
0.5 x 1 cup, chopped (149g)

Peppers, sweet, red, raw ($1.00)
1.0 x 1 cup, chopped (149g)

Salt, table (negl$)
0.5 x 1 tsp (6g)

Soft Wrap ($3.99/6)
8.0 x whole grain tortilla (62g)

Spices, garlic powder (negl.$)
1.0 x 1 tsp (3g)

Preparation
Heat olive oil in skillet. Drain beans and corn, wash and dice all other ingredients. Put vegetables in skillet with spices. Mix well, cook for around 5-10 minutes on low-medium heat. Place shredded cheese on wrap, spread veggies on top. Roll wrap and enjoy!

Nutritional Information
click here to see nutrition facts in the conventional format

Cost per serving
About $2.50/serving
To explain, the costs above are for the total preparation. We still had about 2/3 of the veggie mixture left, and only used 2 wraps. I factored out the amount that will go towards dinner tonight (I'll include it later).

So that's that - delicious use for leftover veggies, for only $2.50/person! The best part is that it is incredibly healthy for you - take a look at the nutrition info posted above. You get a whopping 17g of fiber and 16g of protein! All in less than 250 calories!!

That is why these wraps are my new favorite food. For a mere $0.65 per wrap, you get fantastic nutritional value. I highly recommend them to anyone who can find them in the grocery store. Also, they're incredibly easy to make wraps with - no ripping, tearing, breaking of the wrap. Now go forth and make tasty wraps!