Physique Friendly Pizza - Step 2 The Toppings

THINK OUTSIDE THE PIZZA BOX!

Once you have a physique friendly crust, the toppings are the easy part.

The top two problems with traditional pizza toppings are the cheese and the deli meats. Keep your sauce, keep your veggies but replace the type of cheese and reduce the amount.

I personally use light or fat free mozzarella as the glue that keeps all the toppings together and crumbled goat's milk cheese for amazing taste and texture. You need much less shredded cheese than you may think. Use just enough to keep your toppings in place. I prefer light to fat free as fat free is too plastic like. Plus fat gives food its taste and texture.

Pepporoni is no longer a part of my diet. There's nothing about pepperoni that is physique or health friendly.

Here are my favorite replacements for pepperoni:

- Organic bison, beef or venison pepperettes (sliced thin) from Lakeland Meats in St. Catharines.
- Diced chicken
- Cajun shrimp
- Ground turkey or chicken
- Oven roasted turkey or chicken deli slices (low sodium / low fat) - if you can find nitrate free, even better
- PC reduced fat meatballs (beef or chicken), sliced
- Turkey bacon

As for veggie toppings, be creative! Some of the best pizzas have unique ingredients. Think outside of the pizza box! Here are some suggestions to get your creative pizza juices flowing:

- chopped spinach
- sauteed red onion
- roasted red peppers
- baked eggplant
- zucchini
- diced orange pepper
- scallions
- thinly sliced apple
- dried currants or raisins

This combination is amazing for taste and nutrients:

- Pepperoni substitute of your choice (I would chose diced chicken for this one)
- crumbled chevre (goat's milk cheese)
- Sauteed orange pepper, red onion and egg plant
- fresh chives, chopped fine
- pineapple, chunks
- raisins
- Top with sea salt, cinnamon, ground pepper, garlic powder and fresh basil