Indian Pizza and Yoga

Tonight after yoga all I had on my mind was the whole wheat pizza crust I bought at Trader Joe's this past weekend.  I was also eager to use my new secret ingredient- I'm pretty sure this is new and it's awesome!

This masala lentil dip is like taking Indian food home with you minus the experience of waiting for the food to come to your table and then devouring too much of it along with the fried bread that comes with it.  Or maybe it's just me.  Anyways, pizza it was!

Indian Pizza:
-Heat up some peas, eggplant, artichoke hearts, and spinach in a pan in some water with salt and pepper to soften it up and to make the pizza process quicker.
-Prepare and pre-bake the crust at 350 degrees in the oven for 10 minutes
-Top crust with 1 Tbsp masala lentil dip and then add fresh basil, peas, eggplant, artichoke hearts, and spinach. Sprinkle with chili powder.
-Bake for another 10 minutes

Devour

You have to eat it with a fork because if you are like me, you have overdone it with the toppings.  I overdo everything and had way too many toppings!

While I was making my selfish pizza, I also made husband some cheesy tomato, chicken, carmelized onion, artichoke and eggplant pizza.

The secret ingredient was pesto and clearly I need help on my pizza flipping/shaping skills!

Yoga Class Review- Sculptworks
I've been getting much more than a stretch at my yoga studio.  One of my favorite classes so far is Sculptworks, a class that combines strength training, dance-inspired stretching, pilates, yoga, and interval training.  We use a yoga wall that is used to hold resistance bands and the 55 minute class takes us through upper body and lower body strength including shoulders, bis, tris, back squats, lunges, and even mountain climbers.  There are ab exercises as well, but the instructors emphasize that if the abs are properly engaged, you will do abs all through the class.  I can agree to that since it hurts to sneeze the next day.
I have done this class twice so far and LOVED it!  The 55 minute class goes by so quickly that you don't even have time to look at the clock.  I like how the instructors check each students' form and correct it if they see something wrong.  I also loved the calming but upbeat music and can't wait to do the class again!

Pizza!

I'm not a pizza girl.  I know this may sound like blasphemy but I am just not huge on it.  I have one memory of a birthday party I had at home when I was 6.  There were 3 of us and we were having a 'sleepover' in the middle of the day (yep, I was cool already).  We all wore our pajamas, watched a scary movie, and my parents ordered us pineapple and extra cheese pizza and it was the coolest day ever!  I don't get nearly as excited about pizza anymore.
I rarely crave it, but last night was an exception in my usual behavior.  I stopped by the store to buy some apples and bananas and I picked up a pre-made whole wheat pizza crust.  As I drove home I realized I had none of the 'normal' pizza ingredients- no mozzarella cheese, no pizza sauce (yes, I am used to canned sauce- perhaps why I am not huge on pizza) and no fresh basil.  I decided to do a spin-off of a pizza I saw on Hangry Pants and made my Mediterranean Pizza.

Ingredients:

• Crust of choice (I used Boboli Whole Wheat)
  
• "Pizza sauce" of 3 Tablespoons of Trader Joe's Sundried Tomato and Basil Hummus
  
• Baby bell peppers 3-4
• Kalamata olives
• Spinach
• Red onions (I quickly carmelized them on a pan before I added them to the pizza)
  
• Goat cheese
• Sprinkle of Parmesan 
• Chili powder, paprika, and cumin to taste
  

I topped the pizza with all the toppings and baked at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes.  It was gooey with a crunchy crust and had just enough kick.  I enjoyed it with the usual fiber:

I went back for another piece it was that good.  The hubby gave it a try and liked it too!  I think that variations can include different hummus (probably more than I added), different kinds of olives, feta instead of goat cheese, and fresh basil.

I'm eating it for lunch leftovers and it's awesome!  I just wish I could have had a scary movie to watch it with and wore my pajamas today!