Mexican Pizza

This recipe came from my sister, Somer Rodriguez. She taught me everything I know about eating healthy on a budget. Thanks sis :)

Eating clean and cheap often requires a lot of planning ahead. I HATE grocery shopping, so I plan a two week menu - every meal, including snacks - and shop for 2 hours on one day. I am really stingy with my money so I end up going to 2 or 3 stores - Aldi for almost everything, wal-mart for what I can't get at Aldi, and Tom Thumb because they have the best meat prices. My routine is awful and I hate it, but at lease I only have to do it twice a month. I really advocate planning a menu, because it takes the stress out of trying to figure out what to buy and what to eat for supper that night. Whenever Kyle and I go out, it is usually due to poor planning or no prep. By the way, have you ever checked out the nutrition info for your favorite place to eat? Be warned, IT IS BAD.... REALLY BAD.... It's kinda scary really.. check it out... I dare you.

Mexican Pizza is a lot like regular pizza except you use a couple of replacement ingredients. I make everything from scratch because I keep items like wheat flour, yeast, and dried beans on hand. If you have no prep time, you can buy canned items, but remember canned is higher in sodium and most of the time I can't pronounce the preservatives written on the can.

Crust -  this is the whole wheat recipe I use to make crust. It makes enough for 2 small/medium pizzas. I usually freeze half for another time.

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=389326

Pizza Sauce - see my lasagna sauce recipe minus the mustard. (previous post)

Homemade Salsa

In a food processor, combine diced tomatoes, onion, jalepenos (or green chiles for the wimps..ha!), garlic salt, red pepper (optional), cilantro, and cumin. This salsa gets better the longer it sits, but using it fresh is good too. Again, I base it all on taste. I don't know how much I add of each spice. Pulse until it resembles salsa.

Ingredients on Pizza

Pinto beans (I crockpot dried beans and then mash them when I get home, but canned refried beans work)
Ground Turkey
Onion
Chile Powder
2% cheese, shredded or Mexican blend cheese
Homemade Salsa**

1. Spread mashed pinto beans on dough
2. Brown turkey with the onion. You can either use chile powder or packaged taco seasoning to flavor the meat. Sometimes I throw in a clove of chopped garlic.
3. Put turkey on top of the beans.
4. Cover with cheese.
5. Bake according to the pizza crust recipe. (around 10 minutes)
6. Top with salsa and serve.

Get creative. You can add black beans, spinach, corn, red peppers.. the list goes on.

Even though I am not sure anyone reads this, it's kinda nice just to type these out and send them into cyberspace. Thanks, y'all (if y'all exist) and I hope you enjoy.