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It’s been a long day and you want to relax over dinner. Popping a frozen pizza into the oven might be perfect. But will that heat-and-eat pizza satisfy your appetite and your nutritional needs? They aren’t exactly the epitome of healthy eating, but that doesn’t mean you have to scratch this delicious, convenient item of your shopping list. 

Traditional pizza toppings are usually high sodium and saturated fat-filled meats such as pepperoni and sausage as well as basic veggies like mushrooms and green peppers.  However, these day’s you have many more options.  If you live dairy-free, or gluten-free you can now enjoy store-bought pizza as well. Plus, you can now find more nutrient-filled toppings such as arugula and grilled vegetables and multi-grain crusts.  But don’t let the healthier options deceive you.  Even those pizzas contain fair amounts of sodium and saturated fat.  They can still fit into a healthy eating plan, and usually a bit easier than the standard toppings.

Helpful hints for creating a healthy frozen pizza meal.

Consider these tips when your dinner plans include a frozen pizza.

• Add a salad. To boost your fiber and vitamin intake, and provide longer lasting satisfaction from your meal, pair your pizza with a vegetable-filled salad. This addition will also help you stay within the pizza’s serving size guidelines.
• Top it right. Another way to increase your nutrient quota is to add more vegetables, such as broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, and onions, to the pizza before heating it.
• How you slice it. The suggested serving sizes for pizzas vary greatly, ranging from one-half to one-sixth of the pie. If you double up on servings, you could be feasting on more than 800 calories and almost a day’s worth of saturated fat and sodium in one meal.

Bottom line when at the store. Choose pizzas with more veggie toppings instead of meat-toppings. Check the Nutrition Facts Label to find pizzas with no more than 6 grams of saturated fat and no more than 630 milligrams of sodium.

For those nights when you have a bit more energy, and time, check out my yummy recipe for homemade pizza.

Now that it seems the warmer weather might be here to stay, smoothie ideas are spinning in my brain. There’s something so refreshing about a cool, creamy smoothie. Fresh fruit mixed with protein-packed yogurt, what could be healthier, right? But if your smoothies come from restaurants and not your kitchen, its important to know that not all smoothies are created equal, and unfortunately many restaurant smoothies are a far cry from healthy. Some small-sized smoothies contain more calories than one cup of premium ice cream (even Ben & Jerry’s) and more sugar than two and a half cups of the same ice cream (about 29 teaspoons).

Fortunately you can find smoothies at your local smoothie shop with lighter calorie and sugar loads that easily fit into a healthy eating plan. In addition, they contribute a healthy dose of fiber and protein, making them an ideal mid-meal snack. Because even the healthy ones contain fruit and usually a source of dairy, they still contain natural sugars, but it’s a good goal to choose those with the lowest amounts.  A well-chosen smoothie can be a delicious snack as part of a healthy diet or an occasional meal-on-the-go.  However, before you start drinking all of your meals, remember the healthiest diet is one made up of a variety of real, whole foods.

Helpful hints. Think about these tips the next time you need a little bit of fruity refreshing.

• Stick with small. Even the most nutritious of smoothies tend to be calorie-dense and contain a fair amount of sugar. The larger sizes can easily contain more than 500 calories and well over 100 grams of sugar.
• Check the fiber. One nutritional benefit of fruit is fiber. Choosing smoothies with adequate fiber–aim for at least 4 grams–is one way you may be able to ensure your smoothie contains a decent amount of fruit, instead of just juice
• Add-ins.  A basic smoothie may be simply fruit and yogurt, but these days you can add so much more.  Adding vegetables can help boost vitamin and antioxidant content.  There are also various powders such as protein, green, and vitamin to enhance the nutritional profile.  Some of these powders can also negatively impact the sodium and calorie content. 

DIY Smoothie ideas:

Of course, you can always make your own smoothies at home. This gives you total control on flavor as well as nutrition. This is my favorite, go-to recipe because I can change it up based on what I have in the house or what I’m in the mood for. Whenever I have a banana going bad, I peel it and pop it in a freezer bag in the freezer. That way it doesn’t go to waste and its always ready for a quick smoothie.

This article originally appeared in Environmental Nutrition.

I originally I posted this recipe a few years ago, but I realize over time I’ve made a few changes in my recipe so thought I’d update it here. Most Saturday nights we have family movie night when I make pizza and we all sit in front of the TV and watch a movie–It used to often be a cartoon, but we’ve also done the first Star Wars trilogy and several Disney nature/animal movies. Now we’re getting into classics from my youth and we’ve seen the original Karate Kid, Princess Bride, Indiana Jones, and more.

I’m often asked if pizza is healthy. To me, that’s not really a black and white question.  Yes, pizza can be healthy, but to me there’s a wide range of possibilities that can make pizza healthier. But, one of the most important factors to consider is amount. Is eating an entire pizza yourself a healthy choice? Not really. Is a couple of slices as part of a balanced meal once in a while terrible? Definitely not.

Of course, making it at home allows you to control the ingredients and therefore create something more nutritious.  For starters we always use reduced fat cheese, and I’m guessing, probably less than most pizzerias. For the crust, you can easily swap in some whole wheat flour, but I’ll admit I use bread flour because I enjoy the texture it gives the crust. I also make my own sauce, which is super easy, (and yummy!) This helps cut down a good deal on the sodium content vs using a premade sauce, several of which tend to be high in sodium.

Then of course, the toppings. We change it up sometimes, but our go-to is usually pineapple for my son, pineapple, caramelized peppers and onions for my daughter and I, and the caramelized veggies plus some sort of meat for my my husband. Often, I’ll just brown up some lean ground beef, but as a treat once in a while I’ll throw in a wee bit of ground sausage. So we end up with a good amount of fruit, veggies, and even meat, we just keep in lean.

I’ll admit, I use a bread machine for the dough.  For years I tried by hand and certainly had an edible pizza, but once I tried the bread machine I knew I’d found the tool I needed to make it over the top! If you prefer to do it by hand, simply use the ingredients below with the technique from a by-hand recipe.

This dough recipe will make 2 medium size pizzas.  The sauce is enough for 4 pizzas, and freezes well.

Here’s my recipe for the Best Homemade Pizza

What toppings would you put on your pizza?

 

The weather the last few days has been perfect for warm comfort food, like soup or chicken pot pie. So, I’m reposting this yummy soup recipe. When I ran across a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Soup on one of my favorite blogs, Chef in Training, I knew I had to try it.

While soup typically is thought of as less than healthy because of its sodium content, the benefit of cooking from home is that you control the ingredients. Therefore you control how healthy you make it. I always want to feed my family nutritiously and most days it’s easy to do with delicious meals. And for that reason the occasional splurge isn’t a problem. Fortunately this soup doesn’t need to be enjoyed just occasionally. It’s both nutritious and delicious.

It’s also fast and easy, win number three in my book.

Before I started anything I turned on the oven to preheat to bake up my pie crust croutons. Of course, these are optional, but they really do take this from a good chicken soup to a delicious pot pie-ish bowl of yum. I used a store bought crust for the sake of time, but you could easily use your own. I rolled the crust out and used my handy dandy pastry wheel to cut it into roughly 1-inch pieces. They browned up nicely in the oven and tasted delicious with a spoon full of soup.

Better than Bouillon is a concentrated source of flavoring. It can be reconsituted and used in place of stock or broth. I love it because I can make as much as I need for a recipe and it lasts much longer than an open box of stock. You can find it at most grocery stores for around $4.00 or you can order it from Amazon here if you can’t find it.

Where I live, we’re all preparing for a big time snow day!  The school’s have already cancelled, the fridge is full, and the firewood’s been brought in. I love to start off days like that with a yummy, special breakfast and these hot cocoa pancakes fit the bill for sure.

To look at them, you’d think they’re are extremely rich and decadent. They sure taste that way, but nutritionally speaking they’re about the same actually a bit healthier than traditional pancakes with butter and syrup. Plus you get the bonus of the benefits of the cocoa. Plus the kids LOVE them!

In the recipe below I used a baking mix, like Bisquick, just to be a wee bit quicker, but you can adapt this to fit your favorite pancake recipe too. I also use TruMoo chocolate milk because its low in fat and has less sugar than most chocolate milks. Plus its so creamy and chocolaty. (FYI, they aren’t paying me to say that, we really just enjoy their milk!)

I hope you like these hot cocoa pancakes as much as we do.

Once we hit late September and October we’re inundated by pumpkin and apple spice everything, but what about the cranberry. The cranberry’s peak harvest time is September-October, so now is the perfect time to be thinking about all of the benefits cranberries have to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I adore pumpkin and apple foods as well–check out this round up of pumpkin and apple recipes–I’m just saying let’s be sure to include the mighty little cranberry when we start our Fall baking, cooking, and eating.

First just a few facts about this tart-little bites:

While I can’t remember the first time I tried grilled pineapple, I remember how surprisingly delicious it was. And so simple too! Its a perfect dessert for a warm summer evening of barbecuing. 

In order to meet this month’s recipe redux requirements, I needed a recipe that used some sort of alcohol, even vanilla extract (and I LOVE vanilla!) The first idea that came to me was some sort of fruit and vanilla. Add in thoughts of summer and grilling and it all combined in my brain to come up with this yummy, juicy, sweet treat. Perfect for a lazy summer afternoon lunch or a big ‘ole BBQ with a whole gang. 

I hope you like this as much as my family did. Feel free to try with peaches, nectarines, or even plums. I’m sure they’d all be delicious.

Check out what my fellow reduxer’s did with the challenge.