Naan Pizza with Canadian Bacon, Asparagus, and Fontina Cheese

Since Isaac and I are both pretty active people, we attempt to eat healthy and make good meals that will benefit our exercise and training. Sometimes it's hard to find recipes that are full of protein and the right amount of carbs to compliment all the cardio we do. I mean, you can only eat chicken and broccoli so many nights a week. If you're like me, you don't like to eat the same thing twice in, well probably about a year. I'm all about changing it up and cooking a variety of things, even if some of the ingredients are similar. This drives Isaac crazy, but I think he secretly enjoys the adventure of attempting to cook something new every night.

My awesome friend Courtney bought me a cookbook for Christmakah last year. It's called The Athlete's Palate Cookbook, and it's a compilation of recipes by different chefs who are also athletes. It contains a ton of different, healthy recipes that are good for training days, race days, and recovery meals. Tonight's dinner was one of the easiest recipes I've made from this book, and definitely one of the best (so far). I guess you want the recipe, right?
Oh, and I hope this color makes you think of Canadian bacon.


This recipe feeds 4 (or 2 really hungry athletes)
Prep time: 10 minutes / Cook time: 15 minutes


Ingredients:

Chop chop.

2 (9") naan (8-ounce package)
1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup prepared pesto (I made my own)
8 asparagus spears, tough ends snapped off, cut into 1.5" lengths
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil (or E.V.O.O if you're a fan of Rachel Ray...)
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 slices Canadian bacon, cut into thin strips
2/3 cup (about 2 ounces) grated Fontina cheese

Ready for round one in the oven.

Put it all together:

Oven rack should be at a lower-middle position. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place the flat breads on a baking sheet. Mix the ricotta and pesto and dollop onto the breads. Toss the asparagus with the oil ad a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Evenly distribute the spears, along with the Canadian bacon, over the naan. Bake until the breads are warm throughout and the asparagus is bright green, about 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven. Divide the fontina equally and top each naan with a portion of the cheese. Return them to the oven and continue to bake until the breads are crisp and the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes longer. Cut each naan into quarters, serving each person 2 slices, or half a naan.

Per serving: 360 calories, 18 G protein, 32 G carbohydrates, 18 G fat

**If you don't want to spend the big bucks on Fontina cheese, I'd go with a white cheddar or another soft Italian cheese. We also topped ours with grated Parmesan. What can I say, I like cheese.

Mmm. It was so crispy and good.

Buy the Cookbook HERE!