Janice's Salad Pizza

The nutrition facts for this fast to fix combination of bread and salad can be found at Calorie Count!

Janice's Artichoke Salad Pizza

makes 6 generous servings

Ingredients:

4-6 oz. container semi-soft cheese such as Neufchatel in your choice of herb or garlic (calories assumes 4 oz)
12 inch (16 oz.) pre-baked pizza shell
6 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts
3 cup shredded mixed greens (do not pack when you measure)
1/2 cup quartered or halved cherry tomatoes
2 slices bacon, crisp cooked and crumbled 

Directions:

Spread the semi-soft cheese over Italian bread shell. Drain and quarter the artichoke hearts over a small bowl, reserving the marinade.

Combine artichoke hearts, shredded greens, cherry tomatoes, and add as much of the reserved artichoke marinade (likely about 2 T) as you like in a large mixing bowl, toss lightly. Spread the salad onto the pizza shell.

Sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Cut into wedges to serve. 

Alternatives:

Toss just the lettuces with the marinade (about 2 T) and lay that down first, then a layer of artichoke hearts, then a layer of tomatoes, and finally the bacon - makes a more precise appearance.

Have room in your day for more calories or have people in the house that insist on a more visible presence of meat? Add a couple more slices of bacon and fool them all. You'll only add 65 calories to the entire meal, but it sure looks like there's more meat - that's what I did in the photo in this article.

Skip the artichoke hearts and make a BLT Pizza! Dressing is not at all required and double or triple the bacon.

Note: 

I've made this Salad Pizza for a very long time, since my adult children were very small. I thought I had it from the Boboli pre-made shell people, and visited their website in case they needed to be credited for it. While I did not find this recipe at their website, they do have a number of pretty great sounding easy pizza recipes, so you may want to check them out here!

Meganr's Beet Salad with Pomegranate Seeds

Roasted beets are nutritious, the latest foodie craze, and delightful in this salad from Meganr. The nutrition facts can be found at Calorie Count!

Beet Salad with Pomegranate Seeds

Serves four

Ingredients:

7  beets

¼ cup  pistachios, roughly chopped

½ cup  red onion, thinly sliced

¼ cup  red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon  grated orange peel

1 cup anils (pomegranate seeds)

 2 ounces  feta cheese

Directions:

Using your preferred method, cook the beets. You can either steam or roast them until fork tender. Let the beets cool, then peel and dice into 1/2 inch cubes.

Saute the onion on medium heat for 3 minutes, then add the vinegar and orange peel. Stirring often, let simmer until liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons, 5 to 7 minutes. Let the mixture cool to room temperature before adding to the beets. You can prepare this a day ahead of time, chilling in the refrigerator until ready.

Stir the vinegar reduction into the beets and add the pomegranate seeds and pistachios. You can serve as is or serve on top of salad greens. Lightly sprinkle with the feta cheese before serving.

Meganr's Tart Apple and Celery Salad with Walnuts

The nutrition facts for this refreshing salad can be found at Calorie Count!

Tart Apple and Celery Salad with Walnuts

Serves four

Ingredients:

1 large  tart apple, peeled and thinly sliced (Granny Smith variety is great with this)

3 stalks  celery, very thinly sliced

1/3 cup  walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tbsp  champagne vinegar

2 tbsp  lemon juice, about 1 lemon

1 ½ tbsp  mustard, Dijon style

1 tsp  honey

1 tbsp  extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp  freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Make sure to keep the celery leaves as you begin to prepare the celery, as they are added to the salad. Slice the celery in half lengthwise, and then very thinly slice into half moons.

Peel the apple, cut into eights and then create very thin slices.

Roughly chop the walnuts.

Chop the celery leaves and mix the celery and apple in a bowl. If you are preparing the salad ahead of time, put the celery and apple into a cold water bath and refrigerate until a few minutes before serving time, at which point you can drain the water, pat the celery and apple mostly dry, then add the vinaigrette and the walnuts.

In a separate small mixing bowl or cruet, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, honey, olive oil and pepper and mix well.

When ready to serve, add the vinaigrette and walnuts to the celery and apples and toss well.