National Pizza Pie Day

Considered a peasant’s meal in Italy for centuries it is not known who invented the very first pizza pie. Food historians agree that pizza like dishes were eaten by many peoples in the Mediterranean including the Greeks and Egyptians. However, modern pizza has been attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples. In 1889, Esposito who owned a restaurant called the Pizzeria di Pietro baked what he called “pizza” especially for the visit of Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. The first pizzeria in North America was opened in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi at 53 1/3 Spring Street in New York City.

Five Fun Facts:

1. October is the US national pizza month.
2. Over 5 billion pizzas are sold worldwide each year.
3. Pizza comes from the latin root word Picea which means the blackening of crust by fire.
4. Saturday night is the most popular night to eat pizza.
5. The world’s fastest pizza maker can make 14 pizza in 2 minutes and 35 seconds.

Five Pizza Recipes:

1. Quinoa Pizza Dough – There are a few qualities that the serious pizza lover looks for in any crust. The outside should be crispy and browned, the inside airy and moist but with some chew and flexibility. These can be a little challenging to reproduce in a gluten free crust, but with the right ingredients it is possible to make a pizza crust every bit as good as a wheat based version!
2. Roasted Vegetable Pizza– Skip blah frozen pizzas and greasy take out with beautiful homemade pies. An excellent dish for Shavuot, a dairy lunch or anytime you need a slice.
3. Pizza Roll-Up Bento Lunch– Try this kid-friendly, pizza-inspired box lunch.
4. Grilled Pizza with Pesto, Tomatoes & Feta– Dazzle your guests, and keep the kitchen cool, by baking pizza on the backyard grill. For convenience, this recipe uses prepared pizza dough, found in most supermarkets and pesto from a jar.
5. Green Pizza – A veggie rich pizza idea.

Click for more pizza recipes:

Nutritional information per slice of pizza with cheese topping, frozen crust:

Calories:   533
Fat:  24 g
Carbohydrates:  58 g
Cholesterol:  28 mg
Sodium:  890 mg
Protein:  21 g
Sugars: 7 g