We love pizza in my home and this Balsamic Kale & Chicken Sausage Pizza is no exception. It’s full of flavor and the crust, well the crust – it has pureed chickpeas, coconut oil and dry ranch dressing in it. Needless to say, it’s tender, chewy, delicious and—pssst . . . healthy!
That’s always a plus, especially when I have this on hand to offset our sometimes not-so-healthy meals. In my house, finding balance rules. To help me along with that, I have an army of healthy recipes, tricks and ideas, so when I can add to that stockpile for variation, I do it. My latest addition is from Kelly Pfeiffer’s new book Superfoods at Every Meal.
What I really enjoy about this book is the straightforward simplicity of how to use ten everyday, easy-to-find, nourishing ingredients like: quinoa, chickpeas, kale, sweet potatoes, blueberries, eggs, honey, coconut oil, greek yogurt, and walnuts. And to make things even easier, “each recipe features at least two (and oftentimes four or five) of these superfoods”.
And don’t worry, healthy superfood doesn’t mean you’re going to miss out on any rich flavors. Nope, the book is already dog eared for recipes like: Chipotle Cheesy Corn Dip, Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese, and Corn & Black Bean Quesadillas—see what I mean?
All that said, grab your copy of Superfoods at Every Meal and get superhuman with the “power ten”.
Up for grabs: A copy of Superfoods at Every Meal + a Cuisinart Immersion Hand Blender!
To enter: Leave a comment below with your favorite superfood (check out the list above!) or why you want to win a copy of the book.
Giveaway ends 3/5/15 at 9PM EST.
Yield: one 12 inch pizza
Balsamic Kale & Chicken Sausage Pizza
Ingredients
For the crust
1 cup hot water (120 degrees F)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup (120 g) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
2 1/4 cups (270 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
For the pizza
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 cup (70 g) diced de-stemmed kale
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon basil paste or 6 fresh basil leaves
2 chicken sausages, sliced
3/4 cup pizza sauce
2 cups (240 g) shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
To make the crust: Combine the hot water, active dry yeast, and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes. The yeast should activate and become foamy.
Add the chickpeas and coconut oil to the yeast mixture. Use an immersion blender-a food processor or blender will also work- to puree until smooth. Add the salt, ranch mix, oregano, basil and flour and mix thoroughly. Use your hands to roll it into a ball, kneading 2 or 3 times. Covere with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours. before baking.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick or place a pizza stone (I used my steel pizza stone) in the oven to preheat.
To make pizza: Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it 10 times. Use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough to 12 to 14 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet or use a peel to transfer it to the hot pizza stone. Bake the crust for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile in a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Add the kale, balsamic vinegar, basil paste and sliced chicken sausage. Saute for approximately 5 minutes, or until kale is softened and the sausage is heated through and lightly browned.
Remove the partially baked dough from the oven, spread the pizza sauce to within 1 inch of the edge, sprinkle on the cheese and top with sauteed kale and chicken sausage. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Slice and serve hot.
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The pizza looks soooooooooo good!! Thanks so much for doing this, Matt! I appreciate you so much… and I hope your family devoured all those superfoods right up!
Sweet potatoes are my favorite superfood. Gimme the carbs!! 🙂 I’d love to have the book to find more fun was the incorporate superfoods into my diet… and that pizza, duh.
My favorite superfood is kale! I would love to win a copy of Kelly’s new cookbook because I purchased her e-cookbook and use it all the time! My favorite is her cauliflower and kale quiche!
I have just started cooking and eating “clean foods” I’ve lost pounds and inches and feel great! My favorite food so far has been my grain breads and oatmeal!
My favorite superfood is the sweet potato primarily for it’s versatility. It provides form to all things liquid, it provides just the right amount of sweetness to things that require sweetening without adding sugar and as a staple stands alone. I wish we could grow them in our soil but something must be lacking (need to do more research and soil testing) as I can grow them beautifully in flower pots but not in the garden.
I think it’s a tie between blueberries and sweet potatoes. I would love to win this wonderful book because I am focusing on my health (recent health scare), and can use all of the help I can get to really focus well on the nutrition part of my health. 🙂
I don’t just have one favorite! I love quinoa, blueberries, greek yogurt, eggs, and sweet potatoes. I actually have a piece of sweet potato every night with my dinner. I use quinoa as a substitute for rice & pasta in soups! My breakfast is not complete unless I have my eggs and love greek yogurt especially with a handfull of blueberries I picked myself!
I’m starting to love chia seeds. My son was just diagnosed with a dairy/soy allergy and a wheat sensitivity, so I have been researching different ways to subtitute and make things. The recipe above has ap flour in it, but I have seen some pizza crust recipes that use the chickpeas. Maybe I could sub either gf ap flour or almond meal and arrowroot powder for the ap flour in this recipe?
My favorite Super Food is Sweet Potatoes. I can eat them every day and it can be for any meal. In fact, I just made Nosh and Nourish’s Sweet Potato Muffins with Walnut Streusel and they were delicious!
I love chick peas and Sweet potatoes, yummy. I would love
to win this book as I have 4 children and would like to start them off with the
right diet now so they grow up with it. Also, had major surgery 2 months ago so
was laid up for 6 weeks recuperating. I’ve put on a stone! Not allowed to do
physical exercise as yet so need help to eat healthier and lose it 🙂
Blueberries, kale, chickpeas, Greek yogurt, quinoa…impossible to pick just one! Even my picky 3 year old will eat these…except for the kale- still working on that one!
Between all those my two most eaten are chickpeas and Greek yogurt, that’s tough, so I will choose chickpeas. The book sounds great, would love to learn more. Awesome looking pizza BTW, too Matt.
I have a shit-load of kale from the farmer’s market, and am just about over salads made with it. Been looking for new inspiration, and thanks to your creative kitchen mind, I have the recipe for us. All is in the fridge already, just need to go pick up some sausage – yep, dinner this week!!
Leave a comment & rate this recipe
If you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and review. Star ratings help people discover my recipes online. Your support means a great deal to me.
43 comments to " Balsamic Kale & Chicken Sausage Pizza "