Mushroom & Onion Whole Wheat Pizza

Making a homemade pizza is a really great way to use up vegetables that are just sitting in your fridge that would otherwise go bad. When I opened my fridge this time, I had some red onion and mushrooms that needed to be used up, so onto our pizza they went! I had some of this whole wheat pizza dough in the freezer already, and I find that if the dough has been frozen, it actually rises again as it thaws, and is much easier to roll out, as compared to when I have just freshly made the dough. I have found some really good canned organic pizza sauces, and some brands, such as Muir Glen, use BPA-free cans. Canned and jarred tomato products provide more bioavailable lycopene, as compared to fresh tomatoes, which is great. But just beware of what brand you are buying so that you can be sure that it is not in a canned lined with BPA. Here is a link for a list of companies whose cans are BPA-free: 

http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-brands/

Mushroom & Onion Whole Wheat Pizza

Ingredients

Whole wheat pizza crust (use 1/3 of dough and freeze the rest)
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
6oz fresh cremini mushrooms
1 cup organic pizza sauce (I used Muir Glen because their cans are BPA-free)
1 1/2 cups organic mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Grease rectangular cookie sheet with olive oil and roll out pizza dough until thin and in rectangle shape. Place dough on top of cookie sheet and remove excess dough around edges of pan with a knife.

2. Place pizza dough in preheated oven and bake for 4 minutes. Remove from oven and top with pizza sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and place vegetables on top. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbling.  Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

What are the nutritional benefits of this meal? Whole wheat flour is less refined than all purpose flour so provides more fiber and nutrients, particularly B vitamins, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, phosphorous, zinc, copper, and iron. Canned tomato products contain more bioavailable lycopene compared with fresh tomatoes, and are high in vitamin C. Red onions are rich in quercetin, a type of antioxidant, as well as vitamins and minerals, including vitamins C, K, folate, thiamin, and minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium and manganese. Mushrooms  are an excellent source of minerals selenium and potassium as well vitamins riboflavin, and niacin, and are the only item you will find in the produce section that supplies some vitamin D!  Mozzarella cheese provides lots of protein and calcium.