Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My Pizza IS a Vegetable

Did you hear about the new law in Congress, allowing 1/8 cup (2 Tbsp.) tomato paste to count as a serving of vegetables in school lunches, instead of the half cup required of other vegetables?  It inflates pizza's nutritional profile. 

I was musing on this as I made pizza for supper the other night.  School pizza is made of white flour crust, tomato paste and corn syrup, and cheese.  No flavor, no whole grains, just some high-sodium tomato paste and cheese product mozzarella.


Homemade pizzas are different.

Exhibit A:  100% whole wheat crust, homemade pizza sauce thickened by hours of simmering, not tomato paste, mozzarella, Parmesan, green olives, mushrooms, and onions


Exhibit B:  same healthy crust, sauce and cheese, just with lots of spinach, blue cheese, and garlic

at

10 comments:

  1. Christian - Modobject@HomeDecember 13, 2011 at 10:28 AM

    Yummo! I would happily eat my veggies at your house!

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  2. bethDecember 13, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    Mmmm. Those look good!!!

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  3. UnknownDecember 13, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    Sad to say, there's just no worthy substitute for home cooking...many have tried, none have succeeded ; )

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  4. BLD in MTDecember 13, 2011 at 11:14 AM

    Homemade pizza is the best. I don't even want take-out any more. And yes, I heard about that ruling. My sister (who has school aged children) told me about it in outrage. Crazy, crazy stuff. But, yes, pizza COULD be a vegetable...if done right! As in with real vegetables!

    Also, I love the children waiting patiently (or does it only look patient?) while you snap photos. I do that to Matt all the time.

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  5. CarolynDecember 13, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    Gee, and aren't we glad that Congress spent how many hours/days/weeks debating this important piece of legislature instead of taking care of REAL issues facing our country?

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  6. Jennifer JoDecember 13, 2011 at 12:59 PM

    Yes, I heard about that ruling. So ridiculous.

    YOUR pizzas look ridiculously GOOD.

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  7. RebeccaDecember 13, 2011 at 1:59 PM

    I'll be right over for the green olive etc. pizza.

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  8. CrystalDecember 13, 2011 at 4:08 PM

    I couldn't agree more! The ketchup ruling isn't much different than the pickle that counts as a vegetable every so often or the baked beans from a can that are loaded with hfcs. Oh and don't get me started on what counts as fruit!

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  9. MargoDecember 13, 2011 at 8:10 PM

    BLD, they were patient (which is not always the case!). I also take meal photos at lightning speed, so it's never long.

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  10. Steph (The Cheapskate Cook)December 14, 2011 at 1:31 AM

    2 tablespoons of tomato paste?!?! That'd be funny if it wasn't so sad. I read this to Chris and he pointed out this means we could eat a plate of spaghetti and be good for a week of vegetables.
    These pizzas look delicious! I especially like the look of the one loaded with spinach!

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