Pizza for Breakfast is Good for You

Here are two quick pizza recipes that will elevate you to superhero status.

PHOTOs BY LEAH LIZARONDO
 

Raise your hands if you agree: The best meals you’ve made have been thrown together out of necessity. No recipes. No planning. Just rummaging through your cupboard and freezer as your belly and/or kids yell, “Feed me!!”

Truth.

Today, I share with you two variations on a theme. It brings together two power words: “pizza” and “breakfast.”

Pizza for breakfast is a time-tested classic. We’ve all done it — opened that box of leftover pizza in the fridge and snarfed it stone cold. There’s something about that solidified plastic cheese over syrupy sauce and cardboard crust.

We can do better than that and still have that same primitive satisfaction.

Here are two recipes for pizza that will elevate you to superhero status: Mexican Pizza and Pizza-Stuffed French Toast.

Yep, you read that correctly.
 

I can’t take full credit because they were accidents — and truly, these are not recipes but rather instructions on how to cobble things together.

Added bonus: My kids don’t complain about the greens for breakfast. And you won’t either because these righteous pizzas are just too good.

In fact, have them for lunch. And while you’re at it, redefine “breakfast for dinner.”

 

 

Mexican Pizza

This was borne out of my kids’ request for a breakfast burrito — and I am the worst burrito-roller in the world. So here we have Mexican Pizza, as they called it.

Makes 4 personal pizzas
 

Ingredients:

• 4 tortillas (I prefer whole-wheat or these sprouted-grain tortillas)
• 2 cans organic refried beans (seek out cans without BPA)
• 4 cups baby spinach or any chopped greens such as kale or Swiss chard
• 4 tablespoons Daiya cheese or raw milk cheese or cashew cream (optional)
• Oregano for sprinkling
• Cumin for sprinkling
• Salt and pepper
• Salsa for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat a nonstick or cast iron pan.*
2. Spread ½ cup refried beans on a tortilla.
3. Sprinkle some oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.
4. Top with 1 cup of greens.
5. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of preferred cheese or cashew cream.
6. Place on pan, raise heat to high and then cover.
7. Cook till the tortilla is crisp (be careful not to burn it) and the cheese is melted.
8. Lift with a spatula and cut into slices.
9. Serve with salsa.
10. Repeat with the other ingredients.

*I use a flat cast-iron pan with a very shallow lip so it is easy to place the pizza in and out. If you do not have one, it may be easier to assemble the pizza in the pan.

 

Head over here to get the recipe for the Pizza Stuffed French Toast.