Sausage and Pepper Goat Cheese Pizza

By jimihndrks-2

Ingredients

• 12 ounces extra-lean ground turkey (I use Jennie-O)
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Olive oil spray (propellant free)
• 1 cup thin, 1-1/2"-long green bell pepper strips
• 16 ounces all-natural, low-fat whole wheat pizza dough (see note below)
• 1 cup all-natural low-fat, low-salt, no-sugar-added marinara sauce (I used Monte Bene Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce)
• 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese (1/2 cup)

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from biggestloser.com

Preparation

Step 1

If you have a pizza stone and pizza peel, I highly recommend you use them to make this pizza. This will give it a pizza-parlor-quality taste, which can’t quite be achieved by cooking it in a pan, though it’s still delicious when cooked that way, too. Note that you should not spray your nonstick pizza pan with cooking oil or add any fat to it. If you do, it will be impossible to press the dough out. The grease will make it shrink back toward the center of the pan. Also note that the sausage in this recipe should not be eaten on its own. Though it tastes great as part of this pizza - given the saltiness of the dough, cheese, and sauce - on its own, it requires the addition of salt to give it the flavor of traditional sausage.

The pizza dough I use does not say “low-fat” or “all-natural” on the front of the label, but it is. It has 1.5 grams of fat per 2-ounce serving, and the ingredient list reads “unbleached wheat flour, whole wheat flour, filtered water, canola olive oil blend, sea salt and fresh yeast.”

Place an oven rack in the bottom position. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix the turkey, fennel, parsley, pepper flakes, Italian seasoning and garlic powder until well combined. Set aside.

Lightly mist a medium nonstick skillet with spray. Place it over medium heat. Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 6 minutes, or until tender. Remove the peppers from the pan and set them aside. Mist the pan again with spray, turn the heat to medium high, and add the turkey mixture. Cook the turkey, breaking it into bite-size chunks (do not crumble it), for 4 to 6 minutes, or until no longer pink.

Meanwhile press out the dough into a 14" nonstick pizza pan (do not add oil or flour or anything to the pan), being careful not to create any holes. Spread the marinara sauce evenly over all but the outer 1/2" diameter. Sprinkle half of the peppers, half of the turkey mixture, then the remaining peppers and the remaining turkey mixture evenly over the sauce. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer it to a cutting board (as not to ruin your nonstick pan) and cut it into 8 equal wedges. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 one-slice servings

Per Serving: 421 calories, 33 g protein, 53 g carbohydrates, 8 g fat, 2 g saturated, 40 mg cholesterol, 8 g fiber, 677 mg sodium