Quick and Cheap Dinner: Garden Pita Pizza
October 29, 2009 | (1)
October and November are always criz-azzy months for me at work. Everyone wants to wrap up their projects before the holiday slump, which means my diet and exercise routine suffer from half-assedness and downright neglect. Le sigh. When I’ve had a particularly exhausting day and would rather jump out a third story window than cook, I turn to the pita pizza. Not only are they quick, but pita pizzas are a great way to use up the odds and ends leftover in your fridge. Any cheapskate knows that wasting food is a big money sink.
What follows is only in the loosest sense a pizza. I thought about calling it a garden flatbread, but that sounded poncey. Plus my new favorite book, The Recipe Writer’s Handbook, discourages cryptic and silly recipe names. I’m so, so guilty of that.
If you don’t have all of the ingredients I list below, not a big deal. You can use a technique I like to call im-praaaaah-visation. As long as you can cut it into bite-sized pieces and it won’t be ick if you cook it, throw it on the pita. The combo I use below, however, is quite magical and has plenty of iron from the pumpkin seeds, which toast up in the oven. I love the bitterness of the radishes, the sweetness of the squash and pumpkin seeds, and the saltiness of the feta and olives all mingling together.
Garden Pita Pizza
Serves one
Total time: 10 minutes
Cost per serving: $3-5 depending on your toppings
1 whole wheat pita
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup (1 oz) fresh spinach
1/3 cup (1.5 oz) thinly sliced squash
1 radish, thinly sliced
4 green olives, quartered (I used some marinated olives from the olive bar)
2 tablespoons (0.5 oz) raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup (1 oz) feta cheese
Italian seasoning (optional)
- If you are using a conventional oven, heat it to 350 degrees. I use a toaster oven so I skip this step. If you haven’t already prepped the veggies you could do that while the oven heats.
- Drizzle the olive oil on the pita, and spread it around with your fingers. Sexy.
- Spread the spinach out on the pita, then top with the squash and radish slices. Sprinkle on the olives, pumpkin seeds, and feta. Toss a few dashes of Italian seasoning on top, if using.
- Place in the oven for about 5-8 minutes, or until the pumpkin seeds begin to brown. Serve cut into wedges.
Check out the nutrition information for this meal. The cholesterol should actually be 8%, but for some reason it keeps calculating to 33%. I think it’s just a glitch. More importantly, look at the fiber and vitamin content! You could do a lot worse
Ingredients: feta, green olives, olive oil, pepitas, pita, pizza, pumpkin seeds, radish, spinach, squash, whole wheat pita
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