No oily pepperoni or cheap toppings here. Nope. Here we have a mix of healthy yet hearty ingredients - spinach, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and Canadian bacon generously garnish a thin whole-wheat pizza crust slathered with spicy basil tomato sauce with and mozzarella cheese.

The inspiration for the spinach topping came from a similar pizza I tasted in Rome two years ago. What a great way to incorporate a veggie into a seemingly unhealthy meal. Popeye the sailor man would be so proud.

Taste of Italy Pizza

Ingredients:

• Canadian bacon
• Spinach
• Sliced mushrooms
• Mozzarella cheese
• Pasta sauce
• Sundried tomatoes
• Boboli pre-made whole wheat pizza crust (no time to make my own!)
• any other toppings your heart desires

Preparation

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut the toppings into small squares, except for the spinach (no need to cut..just wash and remove the stems).
• Lay the pasta sauce onto the crust- not too much or crust will get soggy. Then sprinkle on the cheese (I like a loot of cheese..use your discretion!)
• Add the spinach first, since it flattens out as it cooks in the oven.
• Add on the other toppings
• Place in oven, check every 5-10 mins or so. 15-20 mins later...TA DA!You've got yourself a hearty pizza pie straight from the restaurants of Italy. Take a bite of this happiness..it's so good that you'll want to sing some Italian opera!

This scaffolding isn't where the great preacher Savonarola got his come uppance, no. That was a very long time ago.

It is a crying shame that Boticelli threw some of his paintings onto Savonorala's famous bonfire. The fact Savonarola  perished a little later in the turbulent history of Florence doesn't help. Love conquers all. Sometimes.  Machiavelli is considered a little schemer in the UK. But in Italy he is a genius. He certainly produced a little tome in The Prince, which just betrays he was a little bit of a cynic. ♥

1 Boboli Wheat Pizza Crust

Hormel Turkey Pepperoni

3/4 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese

Your favorite pizza sauce

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste

oregano

red pepper flakes

Place all the ingredients on the crust and bake to the package specifications.  Not a lot of measurements in this recipe except the cheese.    Really the point is to limit the amount of mozzarella and make up for it by adding extra sauce, Parmesan, and other flavors.   Using the turkey pepperoni vs. the regular one saves you A LOT of saturated fat and using the wheat crust helps add a little fiber.  

If you are at the grocery store and intend to buy a frozen pizza, DON'T.   Just do this instead.   It actually takes less time because the crust isn't frozen, it tastes better because everything is fresh, and it will be less fat.

Bimbo Snacks Truck on 270 South bound

On the way to work this morning my friend Hemmalaya saw this truck and was very tickled by it.  She took a picture and sent it in as her contribution to my blog.  I've never heard of Bimbo before and thought I'd look into it a little further to feed the inquiring minds of my readership.

Bimbo Bakeries USA is headquartered in Texas and is a part of Grupo Bimbo.  It is an international leader in baked goods and have a presence in 14 countries.  A big part of its growth is attributed to acquiring some smaller family run and owned bakeries in the past century to form Bimbo Bakeries USA.  Some of the name brands that are associated with Bimbo's include Mrs. Baird's, Oroweat, Bimbo, Tia Rosa, Francisco, Marinela, Boboli, Old Country, Weber's, and Bohemian Hearth, to name a few.  The company has also acquired exclusive licenses to Entenmann's and Thomas' products in the Western region of the United States.  The company's range of product lines consist of sweet and salted snacks, tortillas, pizza crust, english muffins, muffins, bagels, snack cakes,  cookies, buns, and sliced traditional and premium bread.  Wow!  I didn't know all THAT! 

If you're interested in learning more about Bimbo Bakeries USA than the short synopsis I provided, please visit www.bimbobakeriesusa.com.

Hemmalaya and I both thought the name was neat and I decided to do a little digging.  She's seen the snacks and trucks around before.  This was my first food find on this product eventhough I'm very familiar with some of the brands this company carries.  I'm always excited to learn something new.  Hemmalaya thanks for your contribution!

 Have you had a Bimbo snack or seen a Bimbo truck?  Let me know!