Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Goat Cheese Pizza with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes

Main Dishes

Goat Cheese Pizza with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes

Goat Cheese Pizza with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes

We rarely order pizza or make it at home, because I get free pizza at lunch meetings at least two times a week at work. This is a very common perk in science, and I’m sure I could find pizza to eat at seminars every day if I hunted around enough! But, I actually started craving pizza after Maria recommended this whole wheat crust recipe. I loved this dough because it was very tasty and easy to throw together. You just mix and knead the dough in the food processor and only have to let it rest for 20 minutes, which is just enough time to prepare all the other ingredients.

I decided to focus on one of my favorite ingredients for this pizza – goat cheese. It just makes everything better in my opinion! While I enjoy traditional pizzas with dollops of goat cheese used as one of the toppings, it’s just not enough for me – I want to taste the goat cheese in every bite! In this pizza, I replaced the traditional pizza sauce with a thick goat cheese spread and then loaded it up with some garlicy veggies on top. It was so good that I may actually start craving homemade pizza more often!

Goat Cheese Pizza with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound of your favorite pizza dough
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 8-ounce package fresh sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups fresh spinach (4 ounces)
6 ounces goat cheese
6 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped red onions
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 500˚F. Prepare pizza dough. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms; cook 5 to 7 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and spinach and sauté 1-2 more minutes or until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.

Mix goat cheese, milk, parmesan cheese, and salt in a small bowl until smooth. Spread pizza dough into desired shape. Spread goat cheese mixture evenly over crust. Top evenly with mushroom and spinach mixture, red onions, and tomato. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Bake at 500˚F for 10 – 14 minutes or until crust is deep golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 267 calories, 11.9g fat, 3.4g fiber, 14.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.04 per serving

Thai Shrimp Green Curry

Happy New Year! Can you believe it’s already 2011? I smile every time I think about 2010 because we made it a great year. The highlight was our big vacation when Apolinaras and I visited his home country of Lithuania over our anniversary. On the career front,...

Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

The past few weeks have been a bit more crazy than usual because I’ve been working on a grant with my PI while still trying to squeeze in a healthy number of experiments. Our annual genetics department and lab ski retreats have also been thrown into the mix, and I’ve...

Pancetta and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

We just got back from our annual lab ski trip, where stayed in a huge house up in New Hampshire and hit the slopes and snowshoeing trails at Mount Sunapee. We all had a great time relaxing, hanging out, and enjoying some incredible meals. Everyone signed up to make a...

Crab Topped Mahi Mahi with a Lemon Sauce over Brussels Sprouts

Apolinaras recently sold one of his business ventures so I decided to whip up a celebratory meal with several of our favorite splurge ingredients – lump crabmeat and wild Mahi Mahi fillets! I made a crab cake mixture and piled it high atop the fish. Apolinaras loves...

Quinoa with Chickpeas, Asparagus, and Lemon Goat Cheese Dressing

I actually jogged outside today with shorts and a tank top on – yay for nicer weather! Spring is almost here and I’m so ready for this season’s fresh produce. I actually couldn’t wait any longer and spontaneously grabbed a huge bunch of asparagus the other weekend. It...

Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash

Well it’s somehow November, which I’m in denial about, but the good news is that it’s finally time to share squash recipes! I actually buy winter squash out of season occasionally (yep, I’m a bad food blogger...) because sometimes I crave it even in the middle of the...

Shrimp Fried Rice with Edamame, Corn, and Red Pepper Succotash

I'm back from San Diego and it was quite the trip! I'm already looking forward to going through my pictures and posting a recap this weekend, but for now, all I want to do is curl up and go to sleep. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to take the...

Yuzu Miso Mahi Mahi

I recently swooned over a delicious yuzu miso sauce served with one of the tuna rolls at our local sushi joint and decided something similar must be incorporated into my next fish dish - never mind the fact that I didn’t even know what yuzu was or where to find it!...