Market Fresh Pizza

By using a spelt or a gluten-free chia chickpea crust (or other healthy crust option!), along with the most nutrient dense leafy green kale and a few other colour veggies (and maybe a sprinkle of your favourite organic grass-fed cheese), there are many ways to make pizza a nourishing option even while training for your next important race.

In fact, I’ve got a few clients who have perfected their perfect pre-long run (which will be their pre-race dinner) pizza to ensure they are optimally carb loaded for their upcoming marathons!

Makes 1 pizza (2-4 servings)

Ingredients

CRUST

• 1¼ cup whole spelt flour (OR for a gluten-free version use:
  • ⅓ cup sorghum flour
  • ⅓ cup chickpea flour (or brown rice flour)
  • ⅓ cup arrowroot starch

• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• ⅔ cup hot water (with 2 Tbsp chia seeds whisked in if doing the gluten-free version)
• 2 Tbsp virgin coconut oil, melted

SAUCE

• ½ small can tomato paste (156 mL)
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp dried oregano or dried basil

TOPPINGS

• 1 Tbsp virgin coconut oil
• ½ of an onion, sliced
• ½ a red or green pepper, diced
• small handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 2 large or 3-4 small kale leaves (½ of a bunch), washed and torn into small pieces
• 1-2 broccoli crowns, in florets
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes OR ½ cup grated organic cheese or crumbled goat feta
• 8 black olives, pitted and chopped
• ⅓ cup fresh or thawed from frozen organic corn
• 50g smoked wild salmon or lox (or 1 organic chicken breast, baked or bbq’d and shredded)
• 2 tomatoes, sliced

Directions

Heat oven to 425.

CRUST

1. In a medium mixing bowl, blend the spelt flour (or gluten-free flours), baking powder, salt and oregano.
2. In a small bowl or measuring cup, measure out the hot water, whisk in the chia seeds and add the coconut oil.
3. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Add a bit more flour if the mix is too sticky. Form into a ball.
4. Turn out onto a piece of parchment paper and roll flat into an 12-inch circular dimension. Transfer it onto a pizza pan or baking sheet, fixing the edges so they are smooth.

SAUCE

1. In a small bowl, mix the tomato paste, olive oil, salt and oregano.
2. Evenly spread the pizza sauce onto your pizza crust.

TOPPINGS

1. In a fry pan, melt the coconut oil. Sauté the onion, pepper, parsley, broccoli and kale until soft.
2. Evenly distribute the sautéed veggies over the pizza, then add the olives and corn. Top with the (chicken if using), tomato slices and nutritional yeast or cheese.
3. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, top with slices of smoked salmon (if using). Let sit 5 minutes, and serve warm.

Enjoy!

To good eats and strong running… Cheers,

Sarah J Cuff, RHN