Autumn's Turkey Sausage and Onion Pizza!

Who says WLS peeps cant have pizza?  Or anyone who wants to enjoy their fave foods and still lose weight?  I say, we can! I am gonna share this recipe with you and the story behind it, but first...

I've been so busy lately and haven't blogged for a couple of days.  Trying to keep up with work, school, practicum, house, gym, and everything else has has proven to be...challenging...and it was only the first week. It's gonna be a LOOOOOOONG semester...  Wooooo-sa!

I've kept up with eating good the past couple of days.  Sticking to small portions, lots of protein, lots of fruit, and even more water.  Today, however...today has been a little difficult.  I have had one of those "bottomless pit" days. They suck.  I haven't had one in a while, but even one is too many.  A "bottomless pit" day is when I just eat and eat and eat and want more and more and more no matter what or how much of it I eat...  Ugh.  I'm not sure why its been like that today, but it has.

My Saturday started out when I woke up at 9 to get ready for Zumba at 10:30 (have I told you how much I LOVE Zumba!!).  I tried to eat one of my turkey sausage and egg scrambles...key word....tried.  The pouch was NOT having that this morning. I ate, eh, maybe half.  Maybe.  So, I just moved on.  Had a blast at Zumba and then on the way home finished about half of one of my Think Thin bars that I had left from the other day.  Stopped at Aldi grocery store to pick up a few things.  I found a box of fit-n-active fruit chews.  I bought them.  Bad idea.  I know that I shouldn't have things like that around the house.  Why?  Because I eat them.  All of them. So far today, I have eaten NINE of the 12 packs. Ugh, why do I do that to myself?  Definitely not helping my weight loss goals.  FAIL.  I share this with you for two reasons.  1--to show all of you that none of us are perfect; we all have bad days; we all slip up.  and 2--because I need to be accountable and honest with you and with myself.  Now, even tho I have messed up today, I am NOT going to beat myself about it.  It happened, its done.  I am moving on...

Here in Indy a new Super Aldi store just opened up!   The best part, it is only about a mile from my house!  I could walk if I needed and/or wanted to!  Love that!!  I stopped today to check it out and pick up a few things to make Nik's butter rum cake... http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/01/protein-banana-rum-cake-with-peanut.html (that thing looks sinfully good!) and ended up spending $30 (had a $5 coupon so really only $25!).  I found some good stuff though!  They have a good produce selection...I got 2 huge fresh pineapples for $.99 each!, some raspberries, and bananas.  I also got a huge bag of frozen fruit (bananas, strawberries, mango, pineapple, etc) to use in protein smoothies! Nom!  I had some of the berries and a banana for a snack earlier...

 Look at these gynourmous pineapples! I could not leave them sitting there, especially since they were only $.99 each!  Score!  I will be cutting them up tomorrow.  Some will go in the fridge, some in the freezer.  Good to keep on hand for snacks at home and to take to work!

Alright, so now for the star of the show...the pizza!  A few months ago I had a REEEEEdiculous craving for sausage pizza.  I went to Wal-mart and looked at all of the pork sausage options....all of them have WAY too much fat and calories per ounce than I was willing to eat.  It just didn't seem worth it.  We're talking like 17 grams of fat (at the least) and something like 300 calories per ONE ounce.  Ewe.  I'll pass.  So, I just said forget it and gave up on the sausage pizza.  I went on with my shopping and found myself in the meat section, near the ground turkey....and then it happened....! I found this...

It's lean turkey breakfast sausage!  It was love at first sight!  The stats on this stuff are FAR better than the stats on the regular pork breakfast sausage...In 2.5 ounces the stats are: 100cal, 5g fat, and 12g protein!   WIN!

So, I bought it and the rest of the fixins (extra thin wheat crust, sauce, cheese) to make a pizza.  Made it that day and let me tell you, it was good!  :-) I've made a few since then and everyone that's tried it has loved it!  I am willing to bet you will too! For this version, I added some sauteed onions.  It's good as well, but you can omit those if you'd like.

Here we go...

Ingredients list:
1 ultra thin-n-crispy wheat pizza crust (this time I used regular b/c Walmart didn't have any of the wheat, but obviously wheat is a better choice)
3/4 lb Honeysuckle lean breakfast sausage
1 cup chopped onion
10-12 oz pizza sauce
2 cups shredded cheese for pizza (I used regular, but RF would be better)
S, P, and GP
olive oil spray

Start by chopping the onion.  Pre-heat a skillet over medium heat, spray with olive oil and add onions. Sprinkle them with S&P and saute them for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft and clear...

 

 Add the sausage, breaking it up into crumbles as it cooks...

Meanwhile, as the sausage cooks through, pre-heat your oven to 425.  Spray the pizza crust with olive oil and sprinkle some S, P, and GP on it. Put it in the oven for 5 minutes to get it brown and crispy...(once this step is done, reduce the oven temp to 350)

Top the crust with sauce (however much you like)...

Sprinkle one cup of the cheese onto the sauce...

Add the cooked sausage and onion (optional) mixture...

Top with the second cup of cheese...

Make sure you have reduced the oven temp to 350! Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 until the cheese is bubbly, gooey, and melty!!!

Nom, Nom, Nom!

 My plate...

Enjoyed each bite...and then had a 3rd slice!

I hope you try it and I hope you like it!

Till next time,

Lots of Love,
Autumn