Paula Deen's Lean: Apple and Grilled Chicken Pizza

If anyone ever tells you that they don't like pizza, they've gotta be lying! Who doesn't love pizza? And from a nutritional aspect, it is one food that can cover all the food groups in one slice. That is such a beautiful thing. Well, I can't believe I'm saying it, but pizza just got prettier. This is a southern impression of what pizza can be. Not tomato sauce or pepperoni needed. Just some new ingredients to make this pizza fresh, fun and...a bit sophisticated.


APPLE AND GRILLED CHICKEN PIZZA
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
4 whole grain sandwich thins
1/2 cup Naturally Delicious "All-Natural" BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup grilled chicken breasts, chopped
1 green apple, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup 2% Monteray Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Smoked Gouda, shredded






DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Separate the sandwich thins (8 mini-pizza crusts) and place them face-up on a baking sheet or pizza stone. Spread the BBQ sauce evenly over the 8 pizzas. Place apple slices over the sauce. Top with chopped grilled chicken. Scatter red onion evenly. Top with cheese, Gouda first.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

RESULTS:

What a way to mix up traditional pizza recipes. I loved them. We all loved them! My sister Molly, the picky eater, was a little unsure of the apple. But she tried it and to her surprise, loved the apple. At first she was only going to have one, but she just couldn't resist having a second.

Paula Deen's recipe calls for her Smokey Apple Cinnamon Sauce. Not having any on hand, I subbed the BBQ sauce for her stuff. It's probably a better option, since her sauce is more than likely heavy on the sugar. When picking your BBQ, look for "all-natural" or low sugar versions.


One of the biggest changes I made to this recipe was to use the sandwich thins in place of ready-made pizza crust. In one serving of this recipe (two mini-pizzas), you are only taking in 100 calories, 1 fat gram and 22 carbs of crust. That is really where this recipe gets lean.


It's yummy, it's nutritious and for you wine drinkers, it goes nicely paired with a glass of chardonnay. ENJOY!

NUTRITION FACTS (per serving): 291.25 calories;  9.27g fat;  32.34g carbohydrate;  24.28g protein;  6.93g fiber

*PRINT~FRIENDLY*