Lunch, Part Deux

My next lunch option is the salad pizza. This also makes a great, quick dinner, or even dinner party appetizer. Pizza crust is obviously a time consuming commitment, but there are shortcuts around this. When I made homemade pizza for my mom’s birthday, I cooked off the remaining dough into two medium pizza crusts and then froze them. Ten minutes in the oven, and these whole wheat crusts are ready to enjoy. Alternatively, I like to use Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough. They do all the work for you! All you have to do is stretch it, and toss it if you’re feeling bold, and throw it in the oven. Again, ten minutes and you’re ready for lunch. While the dough is baking, I defrost another one of my frozen pestos, and prepare the salad. In a medium bowl, mix as much arugula as you can fit, chopped tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a good squeeze of lemon juice. The salad should be bright beside the roundness of the pesto, and the warmth of the pizza crust. Once the pizza crust comes out of the oven, I like to cut it in pieces, smear it with pesto and top it with as much arugula as it can handle, the more, the better. This is also a lunch that lends itself to adaptation. If I have cooked vegetables in the fridge, I’ll add them to the pizza crust. Roasted red peppers are a delightful addition as well. Once again, you can have a phenomenal meal that will leave you feeling light and energetic and ready to take on your afternoon, in the time it would take you to heat up a Lean Cuisine!