Recipe Rave - Spinach and Chicken Sausage Pizza

Here it is...
My first "recipe rave" post. I had this on my Menu Plan Monday post for Saturday. I actually didn't eat this on Saturday as I went our for a neighborhood committee dinner with others in this group. But I had it today and it was GREAT. I was a little skeptical at first because even though it looked good in the magazine, it didn't have the normal "tomato sauce" base and I wasn't sure how it would taste. But I loved it. Not only is it great tasting, it is healthy and easy to make as well. So if you want something a little different for dinner this week, try this:

As I mentioned in my menu post, this came from a new magazine I bought called Clean Eating. I have a couple other recipes from here on my menu plans for upcoming weeks, so stay tuned to hear how those turn out as well.

I even added my cost for this meal, so you can see how my grocery savings help my meals to be frugal. You can also visit $5 dinners from my left sidebar for other frugal menus. I LOVE this site.

9 oz. spinach leaves ($1.99)
2 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes (Free)
1 whole wheat pizza crust (I made my own- see below) ($.61)
(used half recipe for regular pizza for the kids - in case they didn't like this one :)
2 1/2 fully cooked, all-natural, deli chicken sausages, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces (I used Trader Joe's Green Pepper and Onion Chicken Sausage - they have tons of flavors that would be great) ($1.99)
3 oz. mozzerella cheese (about 3/4 cup) ($.62)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Coat a skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium low. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place 1 can tomatoes in a fine mesh strainer and press out as much liquid as possible. Spread all tomatoes onto pizza crust. Top with spinach, sausage and mozzerella. Bake 10 minutes, or until sausage is lightly browned and cheese is melted. Rest pizza on a cutting board for 5 minutes, slice into 6 equal pieces and serve.

1/6 pizza: Calories:230, Total fat: 8g, Sat Fat: 4g, Carbs: 25g

Total cost: $5.21

Here is my favorite bread dough recipe. We use this dough for EVERYTHING, from pizza and stromboli to dinner rolls and slicing bread. It is healthier with half wheat but still a bit sweet with the honey. You can use all wheat if you wish, but it is more dense.

Honey Wheat Bread

1 3/4 cups boiling water (I just use hot tap water)
1/3 cup brown sugar ($.05)
3 Tbls. honey ($.36)
2 Tbls. butter ($.05)
1 tsp salt ($.01)
3/4 cup oats (Free)
2 cups whole wheat($.45)
2 cups unbleached (bread flour) ($.30)
2 ¼ tsp. yeast (Free)

Combine all ingredients in order listed in a bread machine. I always run the dough cycle on this and take it out to use however I want. I don't like the way my bread machine bakes.
This will make 2 loaves or 2 pizza crusts.

Or you can cook on long cycle in 2 lb bread maker with delay start of about 20 minutes so boiling water doesn’t kill the yeast. I have not done this. I don't like the way my bread machine bakes. This also makes so much dough that it raises my machine lid, so I am not sure what would happen if you baked in the machine. You may want to cut it in half.

Total cost: $1.22