The problem with eating pizza is that a heavy guilt shrouds my shoulders the second I finish my meal. Pizza is so notoriously unhealthy that it feels like a crime to indulge in this heavenly dish. So, I naturally decided it was time to make some pizza that I could enjoy without regret.

My first attempt at healthy pizza was a complete and utter failure. I bought whole wheat dough, pizza sauce, cheese, and plenty of toppings. Rolling out the dough was much more challenging than I had anticipated. After I rolled it to the point where I thought it was thin enough, I loaded on my toppings only to realize that I still had to transfer the whole floppy mass onto a baking tray. Several spills later, I had it in the oven cooking away. Ten minutes later, it popped out looking like a deformed monster. The dough was thick, puffy, and raw in the middle. Cutting through it was a nightmare. By the time I sat down to eat, I was irritable, tired, and disappointed.

Needless to say, I was not about to try that again. A few days later, an idea hit me while walking through the grocery store. What if instead of using pizza dough, I used pita bread? The little individual pizzas would be hassle free; all I had to do was throw them in the toaster oven with some marinara sauce and cheese.

To my utter delight, the concept turned out to be as wonderful in reality as it was in my head. The pita bread was easy to work with and extremely tasty. Because that part of the process was so simple, I was able to turn my focus onto pan frying up a large batch of vegetables to use as toppings. The end result was exactly what I was looking for in a healthy pizza: guilt free, delicious, and satisfying.

Do it yourself:

• whole wheat pita bread “dough”
• pizza sauce (or marinara sauce)
• shredded cheese
• toppings: mushrooms, broccoli, red pepper, and zucchini (cooked with a touch of olive oil on the stovetop); feel free to add chicken for a protein boost!