Recipe - healthy pizzas (with flatbread or eggplant)

After finding a cute photo of pizzas made out of eggplant the other day I got inspired to do some experimenting.  Regular pizzas from the pizza shop can be incredibly high in calories, fat and salt - as they are usually fried and covered in cheese, sweetened sauces and lots of fatty processed meat.  Wood fired gourmet pizzas are sometimes a better option, but the meat and cheese is still an issue. For people who can't eat gluten, pizza bases can pose an extra challenge, and for people wit diabetes the large amount of processed carbohydrates in the dough can be a nightmare. I love the flavour combinations, but pizza is just something I don't eat any more... until tonight! 

Tonight I made two different pizza preparations. One for me, that I made on eggplant slices, and one for the boys that I made on slices of large Lebanese flat bread. Alternately make individual pizzas on smaller pita bread.  If you prefer to make your own pizza bases that's easy to do, I was just going for a really easy option that would give a thin crispy and not too heavy dough base.

You will need:
One large eggplant
A pack of flat bread
sauce for your pizza (I used tomato paste and basil pesto on different pizzas)
Pizza toppings - whatever you fancy - feta, spinach, tomatoes, olives, capsicum, mushrooms, basil, artichokes, roasted root vegetables, anchovies, pepperoni (use anchovies and pepperoni sparingly!) pineapple, onions, whatever you like on your pizza!

For the bread pizzas
Heat your oven griller to 200C and use a baking tray or pizza stone
Place the bread under the grill until one side is toasted slightly - watch it, this bread cooks fast and it's easy to burn the edges.
Take it out and turn it over to the soft side
Add your sauce of choice - I made one pizza with basil pesto and the other with tomato paste
Add a sprinkle of grated cheese (not too much) then your favourite toppings. Health wise be sparing with the high fat/salt/calorie toppings like processed meat and go mad with the vegetables - lots of greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicum, herbs and so forth
Back under the griller for 5-10 minutes at most and its done

For the eggplant pizzas
Heat your oven griller to 200C and use a foil covered baking tray
Slice your eggplant into 1-2 cm thick circular slices 
Spray your foil tray with olive oil spray, place your eggplant on, spray/brush with a little olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper
10 minutes under the hot grill until golden then remove.
Turn over as you did with the flat bread, coat with your sauce of choice and pile high with toppings, I used mushrooms , capsicum, tomatoes, feta, anchovies, basil pesto and a sprinkle of grated cheese.
Back under the griller for 10 minutes and its done.

Whichever way you make them, serve your pizzas with a lovely green salad for even more veggie goodness.

Bon appetit!!

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy