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Friday, October 25, 2013

Low Cal Frozen Pizza

Tonight, the boys are spending the night at a friend's house for the FIRST TIME!!!  It's also their friend's first time having overnight guests.  We both have kiddos that have specialized needs when it comes to food among other things, so they've been very eager to try and accommodate Cainan's.  Their usual Friday night is a movie night with pizza and popcorn.  That's totally doable for Cainan.  Their pizza is gluten and dairy free, which is great but it's probably not low calorie.  Cainan needs low cal so I offered to bring over a pizza for him.  Asher will be happy with whatever they're having.

Since I was going to make his pizza, opening a new jar of marinara, I just decided to make a bunch and freeze them so I didn't have a jar of marinara with just a couple of tablespoons of sauce removed and forgotten in our refrigerator.  I do this from time to time because it's easy to make a bunch at once, assembly line style and it's very handy to have a frozen pizza ready that can accommodate Cainan's calorie needs when we decide to eat pizza as a family.



Sometimes I buy the fresh dough from the grocery store, weigh out the individual portions and roll them out super thin--but this does take a lot of extra work.  This time, I had a fresh package of Light Italian Herb flavored Flatouts, so I just decided to use the whole package and make six pizzas.


The Flatouts are 90 calories.







 I weigh out the 28 g of mozzarella that equals 70 calories.  


The marinara I used is about 35 calories per pizza, then there's the toppings.  I usually load his with veggies--onions, peppers, mushrooms--but I was short on veggies currently and wasn't going to run to the store.  I still had some chopped red and green peppers in the freezer, so those went on top.  

 I use one large slice of pepperoni for each pizza cause I had just bought some from the deli, cut into 8 pieces (usually I get the Hormel turkey pepperoni that's 70 calories for 17 slices--I would only use about half that many) and I had some frozen meatballs.  I used three for all six pizzas...yes that's only half a meatball per pizza but when they're finely chopped up, they go a long way.  That ended up adding another 19 calories per pizza.  



I topped it with some grated Parmesan that adds only 20 calories for 2 teaspoons.  That means these pizzas are roughly 265 calories.  He can still have a small salad to go along with the pizza to make his average 300 calorie meal.  And with a 100 calorie bag of popcorn, he can enjoy snack with everyone as well!

Recipe:

Package of Flatouts wraps (6 total)
Favorite marinara or pizza sauce
Part Skim mozzarella cheese
Favorite veggies and meats to top pizza

Set oven to 400 degrees and pre-bake Flatouts on a cookie sheet or pizza stone until rigid but not browned (about 5 minutes).
Top with approximately 2 tablespoons of sauce.
Top with cheese and favorite toppings.


Lay finished pizzas on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, add addition wax paper and stack pizzas as needed. 






 Freeze for several hours until toppings are set.  Pizzas can be placed in baggies or vacuum sealed once frozen.








 
*Note: if you are using raw meats or hard veggies that take longer to cook, pre-cook them before topping pizza.


To serve: 
Remove frozen pizza.  Place in preheated 400 degree oven and bake until cheese is melted and golden (approximately 7-10 minutes).  

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Jicama Mango Slaw



Apparently, Cainan’s sophisticated palate is accompanied by a desire to elaborate with staff in his school cafeteria about the meals he brings for lunch.  I’ve been asked by staff and campus monitors before about recipes for some of the lunch items he brings.  Unbeknownst to me he has offered detailed descriptions of his food, as well as offers to let them try a taste!  

Many of my tried and true recipes are on this blog but I recently had a request for the jicama mango slaw that is a particular favorite of his.  I realized I do not have that one posted!  

I originally saw this recipe on the Food Network’s Cooking for Real with Sunny Anderson.  I tweak it just slightly for our tastes but her original recipe can be found here. The slaw is super easy to make and very low in calories.

Ingredients:
1 lime, zested and juiced     (20 cal)
3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar  (3 cal)
2 tablespoons honey  (128 cal)
Salt to taste
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced  (1 cal)
2 ripe mangos, peeled and grated     (260 cal)
1 large jicama, peeled and grated     (90 cal)

In a large bowl combine the grated mango and jicama.  In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, zest, apple cider vinegar, honey, jalapeño and salt until well combined. Pour dressing over mango and jicama, and toss to combine thoroughly.  Chill for 15 minutes before serving. 
Calories:
This recipes has six servings with approximately 85 calories per serving.  



Note: All calorie counts are approximate.  Using a food scale and calorie website or nutrition information on the packaging is the most precise way to measure calories.  As we know, fruit or vegetable sizes and quantities in teaspoon/tablespoon/cup measurements can be subjective.  So, do your own research and weighing if you need an exact count.