Megan Murphy: Trim cheese, toppings for pizza with less guilt

Americans love to eat pizza.

The problem with pizza is twofold. First, even a slice of a modest-topping pizza, like cheese pizza, can really rack up the calories and saturated fat consumed. Second, as the popularity of pizza has grown, we have begun to embellish it even more. It's the American way, right? We add extra cheese. We make the crust thicker. We put cheese into the crust or slather on more toppings. We even dip the crust into a butter-flavored oil to finish it off.

All of these add-ons may taste great, but they add a lot of calories and fat, so much so that a regular slice of a 12- to 14-inch pizza can easily inch up toward 300 or more calories. Put several slices on your plate, and you are likely to get significantly more calories than you need.

But don't despair. There are ways to enjoy your pizza without thwarting your healthy eating plan. Not overdoing the cheese for one thing. Leaving off the high-fat meats for another. And tweaking the crust so there is less bread can also help manage calories for this popular menu item.

After Columbus came to the New World, he brought tomato seeds back to Spain with him. While tomatoes

at first were thought to be poisonous, they were quickly deemed fit to eat and became very popular. Peasants put tomatoes and cheese on bread and toasted the dish over a flame or in a hot oven to make the first version of pizza. It is thought that in the late 1800s, Queen Margherita of Italy convinced her husband that pizza could be fit for royalty as well as the peasant population, and their chef prepared a simple pizza of tomatoes, basil and cheese for them to enjoy.

Today's version of pizza is similar to Queen Margherita's, but it substitutes layers of phyllo dough for the regular bread-type crust. This gives a nice crunchiness to the pizza, and also saves a lot of calories. Using fat-free or reduced-fat mozzarella also cuts calories and lowers the amount of saturated fat, without sacrificing taste. Slicing ripe, fresh tomatoes, readily available right now, atop the cheese provides lots of vitamins A and C. And besides, fresh tomatoes on pizza just taste great.

The recipe calls for dried dill and basil, but if you have fresh basil available, you can use that instead for even better flavor. Just a tablespoon or so of thinly sliced basil scattered over the tomatoes will add a lot of flavor without overpowering.

Phyllo dough comes in very thin sheets, rolled together, and usually frozen; find it at major grocery stores. You have to thaw it before use, so plan for that when you make this recipe. You can thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, or set it out on the counter a few hours before you need to use it. Work with one sheet at a time, keeping the other sheets covered with plastic wrap and a damp paper towel so they don't dry out.
