Mediterranean Diet Month, a Recipe for Make-Your-Own Veggie Pita Pizzas, and a Cookbook Giveaway! (Podcast #144)

by The Meal Makeover Moms on May 12th, 2011

The Mediterranean diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seafood, nuts, legumes, and olive oil — is one of our favorite styles of eating. It’s naturally nutritious, and the flavors are irresistible and kid friendly. So when our friends at Oldways told us that May was Mediterranean Diet Month, we decided to get in on the action. To learn all about it, we invited Sara Baer-Sinnott, President of Oldways, to join us for a Mediterranean-inspired lunch of make-your-own pizzas and be a guest on Cooking with the Moms.

With lots of veggies to choose from, we created our own pizzas. For the smiley-face design (which Janice gave to Leah when she got home from school), we used chopped baby spinach for the hair, sautéed bell peppers for the mouth, mushrooms for the nose, and orange grape tomatoes for the eyes!

Our lunch also included a platter filled with crisp vegetables — zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, grape tomatoes, and sugar snap peas — that we dipped in hummus, baba ganoush and tzatziki. How could you NOT love veggies after looking at this photo?

Oldways is a non-profit group in Boston dedicated to helping people everywhere live longer, healthier lives by embracing the “old ways” of eating,” and they were the group that launched the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid over a decade ago. During the month of May, they hope to get their lushly illustrated pyramid into the hands of over one million Americans and showcase all the health benefits associated with this scientifically-proven way of eating. You can download your own copy (and be counted) on the Oldways website.

Talk about bright colors, big flavors, and good health! Our toppings included veggies, part-skim mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, basil pesto, and pasta sauce. And the base was easy as pie, because we used whole grain pitas.

Make-Your-Own Veggie Pita Pizzas

Makes 4 Servings

These vegetable-topped pitas are more of a concept than an actual recipe. Anything goes in terms of the sautéed veggies you choose to use. We like onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and baby spinach, but depending on your family’s taste buds, you could also add olives, eggplant, broccoli, diced butternut squash, and tomatoes. For a non-vegetarian option, use cooked chicken sausage or grilled shrimp. As for amounts, it’s entirely up to you and your family.

  • 4 large whole grain pita rounds
  • Pasta sauce
  • Basil pesto
  • One 5- or 6-ounce bag baby spinach, sautéed
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, coarsely chopped and sautéed
  • 1 Vidalia onion, sliced into thin half-moons and sautéed
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice and sautéed
  • Shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • Crumbled Feta cheese
  • Extra virgin olive oil for sautéing

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the pita rounds on one large baking sheet.

2. Spread pasta sauce or basil pesto (or both) on each pita and then top with your choice of vegetables and cheese.

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cheese melts and is lightly browned.

Print Recipe

GIVEAWAY NEWS: Thanks to our friends at Oldways, one lucky blog reader or Facebook fan (U.S. only please) will win a copy of The Oldways Table: Essays & Recipes from the Culinary Think Tank by K. Dun Gifford & Sara Baer-Sinnott.

To enter, leave us a comment telling us about your favorite Mediterranean food, ingredient, or meal … or the most memorable Mediterranean meal you ever ate (wait until you hear about Sara’s!). We will enter you into the giveaway a second, third, and/or fourth time if you …

> Subscribe to our RSS feed.
> Tweet about the giveaway with a link back to this post.
> “Like” us on Facebook or share the giveaway news with your Facebook fans and friends with a link back to the post.

Please be sure to leave us a new comment every time you do something extra, and GOOD LUCK! The giveaway ends on May 27th at noon, and as always we ‘ll use random.org to pick our winner.

How many foodies does it take to sauté onions, mushrooms, bell peppers and spinach? Apparently, quite a few!

Our meal was fresh, flavorful, and easy. It was a lovely break from all the usual Meal Makeover Mom happenings and reminded us that we need to do this more often (i.e. eat a leisurely lunch). The next day, Liz set up a pizza bar for her family, and everyone — especially hubby, Tim who is still sticking with his vegetarian diet — said the meal was amazing!

| | | Pin It
34 Comments | Filed Under CulinaryAdventures, Giveaways, Grains, Pizza, Podcast, Sides, Vegetables 

34 Responses to “Mediterranean Diet Month, a Recipe for Make-Your-Own Veggie Pita Pizzas, and a Cookbook Giveaway! (Podcast #144)”

  1. Miranda on May 13th, 2011

    I subscribe to the feed.

  2. Miranda on May 13th, 2011

    I like you on facebook

  3. Miranda on May 13th, 2011

    I have an easy dish that I love to make with orzo, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta. I dress it with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard.

  4. Kris on May 13th, 2011

    We love spanikopita! We moved away from my favorite Greek restaurant outside Chicago, so I finally had to learn to make it myself.

  5. Ashley on May 13th, 2011

    We enjoyed our 3rd grade daughter’s Greek Festival at school today. Parents prepared delicious Mediterranean foods including hummus, salads, lemon pepper chicken and tons of olives. It was a beautiful and tasty celebration!

  6. Michiel on May 13th, 2011

    My favorite Med food is hummus, pitas, and tabouli. That is what I always order at our local Lebanese restaurant. BTW, did you know that WV has a HUGE Lebanese population? Lucky for us! The tabouli is very heavy on the parsley and very light on the couscous, so it is different, healthier, and good.

  7. Michiel on May 13th, 2011

    And I subscribe to your feed

  8. Kristi P. on May 13th, 2011

    Olive oil and garlic! Staples of almost any meal ;)

  9. Michiel on May 13th, 2011

    And like you on Facebook

  10. Kristi P. on May 13th, 2011

    Like you on FB!

  11. Kitty on May 13th, 2011

    Make my own hummus regularly, love any meal that has couscous in it, my go-to lunch is chopped Greek chicken salad w/feta & black olives. And…..who can resist tiramisu for desert :) YUM!

  12. Kitty on May 13th, 2011

    I also liked you on facebook!

  13. stephanie Hare on May 13th, 2011

    Homemade Dolma’s from my Lebanese friends!! To die for!!

  14. Suzanne haiker on May 14th, 2011

    I love your podcasts, I have learned so much, and have shared the recipes I make with my college aged kids I just planted another avocado tree, and my tomato plants are already 2 feet tall, I add tomatoes and lemons to almost everything!

  15. Julie on May 14th, 2011

    For my honeymoon, my husband and i spent a week in Greece and I adored the fresh Greek salads I had every day.

  16. Lisa Schaefer on May 15th, 2011

    Love and follow the mediterranean diet. Particularly use lots of olive oil and garlic, and love feta cheese. One of my other sites: http://www.squidoo.com/health-benefits-of-garlic

  17. Kristin on May 15th, 2011

    I subscribe and like you on FB. In a house where getting green veggies into my kids, I am so very thankful they both adore hummus (with carrots, whole grain crackers, sometimes red/orange peppers). We frequently do make our own pizza nights and they adore tossing on plenty of olives (preferably Greek ). Greece is one of my most fave places on earth; Santorini is my calming happy place :)

    Even if I don’t win, still think I am going for the cookbook!

  18. louise brown on May 16th, 2011

    facebook follower

  19. Lori on May 17th, 2011

    Love hummus, kalamata olives and feta cheese!

  20. Jennifer on May 18th, 2011

    My kids love to say “feta makes everything beta!” After listening to this podcast, I remembered this awesome salad I had in a cafe last summer, and decided to recreate it for dinner last night–the salad has roughly chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and whole wheat pita pieces with sprinkled feta cheese. A simple dressing of a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and olive oil and you’re set (or sometimes my favorite Trader Joe’s balsamic vinegarette). My kids usually eat vegetables, but not terribly enthusiastically–but last night was different. I put each ingredient in its own bowl and let them choose what they wanted to add–my son skipped the tomatoes, but the other two took more of everything than I’d have thought to serve–and there was not one crumb on any kids’ plate!! I think we’ll be eating lots and lots of this this summer!

  21. Jennifer on May 18th, 2011

    also follow you on Facebook. Definitely buying this cookbook if I don’t win =)

  22. Bakluvit quality baklava presents: Golden Crunchy Luv. | Bakluvit ® Baklava on May 18th, 2011

    [...] Make your own Fun Veggie-Pita-Pizzas with Meal Makeover Moms. [...]

  23. Suzannw Haiker on May 20th, 2011

    Girls home from college, they loved these pizzas, they said, “real food!:” and healthy! thanks!

  24. Jessie M on May 21st, 2011

    Love making my own tabouli. Feta and olives are my favorite.

  25. Kim on May 27th, 2011

    i like you on facebook

  26. Kim on May 27th, 2011

    i subscribe to your feed

  27. Sandi on May 27th, 2011

    Hummus and pesto. I made an arugula pesto with walnuts and served it with tortelini. My son brought the leftovers to school today which means he really liked it

  28. angela on May 27th, 2011

    looks delicious! love the smiley face!; sharing on facebook also

  29. Sarah K on May 27th, 2011

    My grandfather was full Lebanese, so I have lots of good food memories….my favorite is koosa — yellow squash stuffed with rice and ground beef and then simmered on the stove with tomato sauce and spices!

  30. Chrissie on May 27th, 2011

    It’s hard to pick just one favorite, but I guess it would be pitas and hummus. So easy to make too!

  31. Chrissie on May 27th, 2011

    I also like you on facebook :)

  32. Sarah on May 27th, 2011

    homemade basil pesto is my favorite for everything.

  33. Sarah on May 27th, 2011

    And…I subscribe to your RSS feed…

  34. Sarah on May 27th, 2011

    …and like you on Facebook

Leave a Reply