Recipe Redux: Spring Green Pizza

Happy Spring! “First Shoots of Spring” is this month’s Recipe Redux theme, and we’re celebrating all the glory of tasty ingredients like garlic scapes, leeks, scallions, and asparagus. If you’re lucky enough to have a farmer’s market close to you, take advantage of it and pick up some of these seasonal, flavorful ingredients! You can try this Spring Green Pizza, along with all the other Redux recipes (found at the end of this post).

Spring Green Pizza

Ingredients:
8 asparagus stalks, woody parts removed and sliced in half
1 cup baby Portobello mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup yellow onion, sliced
1 ready-to-use thin pizza crust (I used Mama Mary’s Thin & Crispy crust)
1/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
2 Tbsp. pesto
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup fresh baby spinach, rinsed
Feta cheese
Shredded mozzarella
Fresh basil, chiffonade (need to learn how to chiffonade? watch this!)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place sliced asparagus, mushrooms, and onions on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, pesto and olive oil.
3. Prepare your pizza crust per package directions, then spread ricotta/pesto mixture on pizza crust.
4. Evenly distribute roasted asparagus, mushrooms, onions, and spinach around crust.
5. Top with desired amount of each cheese, and then sprinkle with basil.
6. Bake pizza per package directions, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted!

Eat greens, save green.

I’m a little late to jump on the kale band wagon, but I’ve finally made it on and now I see why people are falling head over heels for this cruciferous vegetable. It’s easy to prepare, tastes great, and the nutritional benefits are plentiful.  High in beta-carotene, vitamin C & K, and antioxidants, this leafy green veg has a lot to offer! And if you didn’t think it could possibly get any better, kale is also very budget friendly, like most greens. Eat greens, save green.

So I’ve been eating kale almost every day this week, and when I look into my future I see many more. If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s a simple way to get started.

Garlicky Sautéed Kale
Pick kale leaves from stems (about 2 cups worth) and rinse. Do not dry kale with a paper towel; the water will be needed in the cooking process. In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil and 1 tsp. chopped garlic (be sure not to burn the garlic!). Add rinsed kale leaves and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I also tried kale in one of my juices this week using a recipe I found on Healthy Aperture (recipe from TastefullyJulie.com) If you feel weird about putting vegetables in your smoothies/juices, I promise this is a good recipe to try and you should not fear the green! IT IS GOOOOOD STUFF!

Image and recipe reprinted with permission from http://www.tastefullyjulie.com and http://www.healthyaperture.com

 Ingredients:

• 2 large handfuls of spinach or kale
• handful of parsley (optional if you don’t have any handy but it’s packed with anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals so get some!)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 small banana
• handful of ice cubes

Directions:
1. Blend the greens and the water until smooth.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Please share your favorite kale recipes with me! I’d love to see the endless possibilities with this leafy green!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!