What Did You Do With Jill?Jill Whalen's healthy lifestyle transformation                                               

By Jill Whalen

Healthy Whole Wheat Pesto Caprese Mini Pizza

Today I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make/eat for lunch. When my body isn’t screaming for something specific, I generally open my fridge and cabinets to see exactly what I have available, and go from there. This time, my homemade pesto caught my eye as well as my palate. But what to put it on? I could have boiled up some whole wheat pasta, but I try to avoid that unless I’ve just done a good workout. I also had a spaghetti squash that’s been sitting on my table for quite some time and I nearly gave that a go. (I absolutely adore pesto spaghetti squash.)  But then I thought I might try the squash later for dinner with a bolagnese recipe my daughter mentioned that she just made. So I looked around at what else I had on hand.

Vine ripened tomatoes, mozzarella…

Bingo! Mini pizzas! So I preheated my toaster over to 400 F and grabbed whatever else I had around that sounded like they’d be pizza ingredients.

I always keep some whole wheat sandwich flats on hand as they are a great lower calorie substitute for regular whole wheat bread, so one of those became the pizza “crust” if you will. I spread a good dollop of pesto on each one for lots of yummy basil garlic flavor:

Spread Pesto on Whole Wheat Sandwich Flats

Then I topped them with a juicy thick slice of the vine ripened tomato:

Mmm…Vine Ripened Tomato Slices!

Next came a couple of asparagus and some fresh parsley. I also realized that I should fill up the extra space on the roll with some additional pieces of the tomato and added some to fit:

Asparagus, Fresh Parsley and Additional Tomato

Then I remembered I had some precooked bacon in the freezer, plus I minced up a bit of a jalapeno pepper that had been hanging around too long anyway. On top of all this I grated some fresh Parmesan cheese. By now of course my mouth was watering and my stomach was growling!

Fresh Grated Parmesan, Minced Jalapeno, and Bacon

All that was left was some salt and pepper and the mozzarella!

Topped With Delicious Mozzarella Cheese

And Voila! Super healthy, pesto-laden, whole wheat pizzas!

The Finished Yummy Product!

Now of course the beauty of healthy lunches such as these pizzas is that you can put whatever you have on hand on top of them. Which is why I’m not providing you with an ingredient list. It doesn’t matter if you use sandwich flats, or bagels, or ezekiel bread. Got no pesto? No problem, you could simply add some fresh or dried basil and some garlic. And you certainly don’t need asparagus or bacon. I’ve made these with spinach, mushrooms, onions and feta. You can even just used bottled spaghetti sauce if you don’t have any fresh tomatoes hanging around.

As long as you keep some basic veggies and cheeses around, you should always be able to make some sort of yummy, healthy pizzas!

Jill Whalen

CONTACT JILL WHALEN to learn how she may help you be the best you can be.

Jill is the author of Victim of Thought: Seeing Through the Illusion of Anxiety

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For the past 20 years, Jill has consulted with companies big and small, and spoken at conferences all over the world. She is currently a transformational speaker and mentor to businesses, individuals, coaches, leaders, groups and organizations. She helps them uncover their natural well-being and happiness so that they can operate from a clearer state of mind and take their lives and businesses to a higher level.

Jill's blog, What Did You Do With Jill? is a personal account of what she's learned throughout her transformational journey. Jill has many "viral" articles on LinkedIn and is a contributing writer for P.S. I Love You.

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