by Susan Keeping

Created on: September 25, 2007   Last Updated: June 09, 2008

Last summer I was looking for a low-fat alternative to pizza when I had a brainstorm; I would make a pita pizza.

I was looking for a low-fat alternative because I wanted to lose some weight for my niece's wedding in August. I didn't want to steal the thunder from the bride-to-be but I did want to look good in my dress. I have always had a hard time losing weight but I decided that that summer I was going to lose weight even if it killed me. Luckily, I only had about twenty pounds to lose.

I decided to join Weight Watchers since I'd heard so many good things about them and had known a lot people who had lost weight after joining. I didn't even have to attend meetings and I could do it all on-line. It started off great; I counted my points religiously and didn't go over. I just had to learn to control my portions, avoid certain things (such as potato chips and candy bars), and not overeat. I also drank a lot of water, which helped to make me feel full. I found I was succeeding easily and was losing about a pound a week. However, after a month on the program I was craving pizza almost every day. I didn't want to blow my diet out of the water by ordering a pizza from my local pizzeria, so I came up with my own recipe using different ingredients.

For the pizza crust, I used a medium-sized pocket-less pita. You can use whichever size you wish. I then spread the top of the pita with spaghetti sauce; I bought a canned plain spaghetti sauce but if you wish you can use tomato paste. Then, I sprinkled on some low-fat mozzarella cheese. Again, you can use whichever cheese you want or you can skip the cheese altogether. On top of the cheese I then added some packaged grilled chicken strips, some sliced mushrooms, a few sprinkles of imitation bacon bits (made from soy), pepper, salt, oregano, and garlic powder. I then cooked the pizza under the grill in my oven until the cheese melted and the pita was crispy; sitting the pita directly on the oven rack works best. You can also heat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake the pita pizza until the cheese melts and the crust becomes crispy.

I really enjoyed the pita pizza. It turned out to be one of the best pizzas that I had tasted in a long time. And it was guilt free, it only amounted to four points in Weight Watchers and 90% of that was the pita bread. I lost all the weight I wanted but I still like my pita pizzas.

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