Insalata Pizzas

Happy Hump Day, foodies! I hope your week has been treating you well!

My husband and I enjoyed a delicious and light (perfect for summer!) dinner on Monday. As you may know, I am quite the fan of my Cooking Light Cook Book. I'm also a fan of the My Recipes website, which features a collection of recipes from the following magazines: Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, All You, Real Simple and Health. Um, I'd take a subscription to any and/or all of the above. Please and thank you.

Close Up!

This Insalata Pizza recipe stumbled its way into my recipe file on My Recipes - P.S. you should definitely sign up for an account (it's free!). It's similar to All Recipes in that you can create a recipe file of saved recipes - an electronic recipe box, if you will.

Of course, I had to make some minor changes. The original recipe called for cider vinegar and instead of paying $4 for it at the grocery store, I just used balsamic vinegar that I already had and saved some money. Always a plus. I also opted for black olives, instead of kalamata. As much as I love the saltiness of kalamatas (yum!), Trader Joe's only sells them by the jar...which means they're soaked in oil. I just wasn't up to dealing with that slippery mess.

These insalata pizzas were perfect. Light and crisp - they definitely had a gourmet feel to them. Ya know, something you might find at a corner bistro. 

Insalata Pizzas 

Adapted from Cooking Light, May 2004

Ingredients:

4  (7-inch) pitas
2  teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1  cup pre-shredded part-skim Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup quartered grape tomatoes
1/2 cup sliced black olives
2 tablespoons  chopped basil leaves
4 cups packaged gourmet salad greens - I used baby spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place pitas on a baking sheet lined with foil. Spread 1/2 teaspoon garlic on each pita. Sprinkle each pita with 1/4 cup cheese, and divide onion evenly among pitas. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cheese is bubbly.

While pitas bake, combine vinegar, oil, and pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in tomatoes, olives, and basil. Add salad greens, and toss gently to coat.

When pitas are removed from oven, top each with about 1 cup of salad mixture. Serve and eat immediately. Enjoy!