Slice of Life

Who loves pizza? Me, it’s a favorite of mine, but definitely not something heart healthy when you go all out. Thin crust, thick crust or hand tossed crust have sodium, but I found a dough with 0 sodium. This was my first low sodium meal I cooked for my dad when he came home from Barnes Jewish Hospital after being there over 60 days getting his HVAD. Slightly different from an LVAD, more people are familiar with.

It was very good, but I have improved this recipe for my thin crust loving family. You can do your desired thickness when you roll out the dough.

You’re going to add warm water, olive oil and honey, mix together then sprinkle yeast on top of mix. I like warm my mixing bowl up by running some hot water over it. If your bowl is cold and you add warm water it will cool the water before you sprinkle your yeast on.

When your yeast starts to get foamy after about 5 minutes, start adding your whole wheat flour mixture. I do about a cup at a time.

Once mixture is incorporated, form ball and place in an oiled (olive oil) bowl and turn over to cover dough in oil. Cover, let rise approximately 1 hour. Once doubled, turn over onto lightly floured surface and knead a couple minutes. Cut into amount of pizzas you want.

Once you have your dough ready you can make pizza now or rub olive oil on each ball and wrap loosely with Saran Wrap making sure it is covered, but has room to expand in fridge. I have used my dough up to 4 days after making.

When you’re ready to make your pizza, heat oven to 450*. I recommend an oven stone, placed in oven while heating. Roll your dough out to desired thickness.

I have a pizza spatula, you will need something that you can slide your dough off of onto the stone. You will want to sprinkle corn meal or flour to get your dough to slide onto the hot stone. If you don't have a stone you can use a sheet pan and time will vary while cooking.

This dough can be cooked a little before to get some bubbles or you can’t put your sauce and toppings on and put it in and bake. Now that we are ready to prepare our heart healthy pizzas, here is where it gets creative and fun, unless you’re like my son Bay and stick with faithful cheese pizza.

Remember, marinara can have a lot of sodium, but you will not be using very much, so you can get by with more topping, but you need to watch cheese, it does add sodium. Chicken is a great meat to replace your normal options. If you’re choosing traditional meats just make sure you choose lean meats. My other son, Walker, loves BBQ sauce (we make our own) and chicken with provel and mozzarella. Of course there is no picture, he engulfed it, with a 14 year old football player, food does not last in front of him, unless it’s a green vegetable and it will stay on the plate.

You can see we have a variety of options, but what I use and do not have in this picture is pesto and pears. Before my HA I sautéed onions and pear slices in butter for a topping. I have since sautéed onions in olive oil and use fresh pear slices. I have made my own pesto and have it down to around 68 mg of sodium per tablespoon which is very good. Here is one of my favorite pizzas. Pesto base, about 1/2-1 TB, bell peppers, sautéed onions, grilled chicken (if my boys don’t eat all of it) thinly sliced Bartlet Pears and honey goat cheese. Goat cheese is lower in sodium and adds just the right flavor, almost a tang to counter the pesto and vegetables.

Let’s not forget my go to sauce, Mikes Hot Honey. I drizzle over the top of my pizza once cooked. Run, don't walk, and get this honey -- then try it on pizza, it’s amazing.

RECIPE

• 1 cup warm water

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 TB honey

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 package

• 3 cups whole wheat flour

• pinch Season the Heart seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a large bowl, add water, oil, honey. Pour yeast on top and let sit for about 5 minutes, you will see it get foamy.  If your bowl is cold, run hot water to warm it up before adding these ingredients.

• Meanwhile in a medium bowl, combine flour and pinch of Season the Heart seasoning.

• Add gradually to the yeast mixture.

• Knead the dough for a minute and a half or until smooth and forms a ball.

• Place the dough in a medium bowl, drizzle with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap or tea towel and allow to rise for 1 hour. I make sure it’s in a warmer area of the kitchen.

• Punch dough down and knead on a lightly floured surface for a couple minutes until smooth.

• Divide into individual size pizza or two larger pizzas

TO BAKE:

1. Heat a pizza stone in the oven at 450°F.

2. Roll pizza out to desired thickness, we are very thin crust people.

3. Brush pizza with olive oil, place in oven on stone for about 3 minutes. The time will be your desire for crisp crust. If you do not want bubbles, pierce with a knife point.

4. Pull pizza and add your desired toppings. Remember this is heart healthy pizza so choose veggies, chicken or even fruit.

Thank you all for checking in with me this week, I have learned that some times you have no choice, but to rest. Right now my body needs more time to heal with catching a infection, but that’s okay, I’m still getting stronger every day. I will rest all day, just to go out for a couple hours to watch my boys play football. Life is about adventures in the different seasons of life, but I got this.

Now back to our yummy topic for today.

Let me know your favorite pizza topping?