Hungry and wanting to be good and make my own dinner, I planned out the master pizza of healthiness.

Ingredients:
Two pre-made pizza crusts
Eggplant
Yellow bell pepper
Tomato, yellow
Toamto, red plum
Asparagus
Mushrooms, portobello
Onion, yellow
garlic
chicken breast
marinated artichokes
Mozerella, part-skim
Ricotta, part-skim
Parmesean
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Cracked black pepper
Fresh basil
Fresh parsley


A sane person may have realized this was overkill, but I was trying to get all the colors of veggies and cover my protein bases as well.

Started by chopping everything up that wanted to be chopped. I bought chicken breast already in tenders and cut them length-wise and then in about 1/2 inch segments. The eggplant is pretty thin, kind of like a thick tomato slice. Everything else is diced or cut in a pretty standard way.


Mis en place

In a large sautee pan I poured quite a bit of olive oil and heated on medium. Tossed in a liberal amount of garlic and let it flavor the oil for a minute. Tossed in the onions and cooked until they started to get soft. Added the asparagus tips and cooked for a few minutes until they started to brighten in color. I then moved all of those elements to the edges of the pan and tossed in the mushrooms. Cooked on each side until the mushroom was pliable and brown. Removed everything from the pan. Turned the heat up to a medium-high and tossed in the eggplant. D likes scorched eggplant, so that's how I prepped it. Remove everything from heat.



Simultaneously in another pan, toss the chicken and chopped up marinated artichoke hearts (including all the juice/oil) in at medium-high temp. Cook until the chicken is done and all the sauce has simmered away. You don't have to marinate ahead of time, but I did while I was chopping veggies. This is a delicious way to flavor chicken for any recipe.

Turn the over to 425F. Place pre-cooked pizza crust on cookie sheet and drizzle olive oil on top. There's no particular order to how to add the veggies...do what feels right.


Eggplant layered on bottom, followed by asparagus and onions with basil-parsley mix tossed on top.

Everything I've made lately has parsley in it because I bought a head of it the other day and MAN does it last forever. I have two baby plants in the front yard that I'm trying not to kill, and once they're successful I will be able to use parsley at will.


Mushrooms and bell pepper. Nothing says neurotic like symmetrical pizza.

That's looking pretty good, right? This is the point where I realize I've filled the pizza and it's probably delicious and I have a bazillion ingredients left to add. So, for once I act sanely and decide this pizza is done (or is about to be) and I should make another one.

Added a mix of mozzarella and parmesan to the healthy delicious pizza (went light on the cheese so I could try and call it healthy). Put it in the oven.

Second pizza, same deal with the olive oil and the cookie sheet. Spread the chicken artichoke mix evenly over the surface. Added the two colors of tomatoes, making pretty patterns as is my wont. Now is the part where I really go crazy. I take my jar or pre-diced garlic (you know, the stuff in the veggie section) and I just chunk a glob of garlic bits on every. single. tomato. !!! But I love garlic and it's good for you, so to hell with it. I also tossed bits of part-skim ricotta around the tomatoes. Sprinkle with lots of fresh basil and some parsley, a crack or two of black pepper and a sprinkle of good quality balsamic vinegar.


Voila!

By the time I was done assembling, the pizza in the oven was done (first pic). Probably less than 15 minutes. The chicken pizza wasn't as photogenic, but it sure is delicious...