Shugart and Spice: Greek Garden Pizza

It is officially Mediterranean week at the Shugart house. The general idea of a Mediterranean diet is to eat lots and lots of grains, nuts, beans, vegetables, and fruits, and not so much meat (especially red meat), dairy, and sweets. We decided to try it out for a week and see how we feel and how we like it. Here is the menu for the week...

Sunday: Greek Garden Pizza
Monday: Butternut Rice Pilaf with Trout and Steamed Kale
Tuesday: Quinoa with Roasted Broccoli and Pita
Wednesday: (eating at church)
Thursday: Chickpea and Rice Stew
Friday: Seafood Couscous Paella

I also made homemade muesli to eat throughout the week for breakfast, and we are making a more concerted effort to snack on fruits and nuts.

What better way to start off a new week than with my favorite food EVER...Pizza??? You can't get much better. Pizza is one of my favorite things that has ever been invented.

Start with some homemade whole wheat dough...

In one medium bowl, mix...
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp quick-rising or bread machine yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Using a fork, slowly stir 3/4 cup hot water into the flour mixture. After the water is all in, use your hands to work it all together, kneading for just a couple of minutes, and then form a ball, drizzle a little olive oil on it, and let it sit (covered) for about 10 or 20 minutes, while you get the toppings ready.

For the toppings...

Grate or mince 4 cloves of garlic into a small bowl.

Add one Tablespoon of olive oil to the garlic, mix with a fork, and let it sit until the dough is ready.

Also, go ahead and chop one cup of artichoke hearts (I used the canned kind but I know they have frozen ones as well; I can just never find them around here) and get some olives chopped as well.

Now its time to roll out your dough on a floured surface. I just sprinkle flour right on the baking sheet and roll it out on the pan. I also don't care about how it looks. I'm sure you could get it in a nice even circle, but I just roll until it's flat and has the most surface area possible! Brush your garlic-infused olive oil over the whole pie.