I have a confession to make. I love pizza. I love everything about it, the cheese, the veggie toppings, the Canadian bacon and a thick bready crust. It is one of my favorite foods.

There was a time when hubby and I would have pizza every couple weeks. We would look at each other, usually exhausted from a long work day, and say, “pizza night?” Then off we would run to our favorite pizza joint, drink wine and eat to our heart’s content.

Even after we transitioned to primal/paleo eating, we got out for pizza at least once a month. We called it our favorite “cheat treat”, reveling in the glorious suggestion by Mark Sisson to try to eat 80% primal and 20% conventional.  But an unusual thing has started happening the more closer we adhere to the new lifestyle. We are noticing that every time we “cheat” we pay. In fact we pay big.

Those little cheats turn into big body bummers. For instance, I started to develop an allergy to my cats a few years ago. This is very upsetting because my cats have turned into my babies since my kids left home. I guess living with cat fur as an accessory finally caught up with me. Running nose, sneezing, itchy swollen eyes, yeah its all very humbling.

I started noticing pretty quickly that when eating paleo I didn’t have these reactions to my furry babes. That was a nice unexpected benefit. Now, if I eat even a chocolate chip, guess what? Yup, AHchoooooooo, snort and so forth and all within an hour. Stunning.

When we were in Hawaii, I ate primal for most of the vacation. Then the last few days, my resolve crumbled and I had to have that big fluffy ciabatta bun with dinner. Just had to. After all I was on vacation dag nab it! THAT very night I exhibited symptoms of a UTI (urinary track infection). I haven’t had one of those in 12 years! What? Really? That fast?

This is the clear and brutal  truth, shown to me by my body of how grains and sugar lower our immune system. I knew it, academically, but now I know it viscerally. Our bodies were not created to ingest grains and processed sugars. Period.

I feel a bit mixed about all this. Eating this way feels so perfect but what about our pizza nights??? I really missed them. But obviously the time has come to make the next big transition into the cave world.

Time to stop feeling sorry for myself and get creative.  I remembered reading on MDA (Mark’s daily apple blog) about “meatizza” which is a pizza made with a meat crust. A carnivore’s dream.  Hummmmmm.

I started with an organic chicken basil sausage that I bought from New Seasons. I patted that into one of our large cast iron skillets and baked it for about 20 minutes, topped it with sugarless marinara sauce, mega veggies and a light sprinkle of cheese. Then baked it till the cheese was nicely melted. It was fantastic and fulfilling! We even had a glass of red red wine with it. All was right with the world.

You can use any sausage that you would like in this recipe. We found that hubby’s Italian elk sausage was by far the best. Some people use pork and the chicken was delicious too. You can even make your own sausage using hubby’s recipe (or your own) with ground bison or some other grass finished meat. You can even make it without cheese if you please. Most of all enjoy! It’s not going to hurt you! I can testify to that.

Meatizza

Serves 4 – 6 people

Crust

2 pounds of bulk Italian sausage (your choice)

1 to 2 eggs

Meatizza toppings

A sugarless pizza sauce such as “Monte Bene”

Veggies chopped up of your choice such as

Bell peppers

Onions

Garlic

Broccoli

Mushrooms

Olives

Zucchini

Grated Cheese of your choice such as

mozzarella

provolone

goat

smoked gouda

Heat up the oven to 375 degrees for convection and 400 degrees, non-convection. Mix the eggs up into the sausage with your hands, to get you into that dino-food mood. Pat into a cast iron skillet or a glass baking dish that has been lightly oiled. Tuck in the fire for 20-25 minutes till starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Bring out of the fire and top with sugarless pizza sauce,  loads of veggies and a light sprinkle of cheese of your choice. Sprinkle with some oregano and pop back into the oven till the cheese is melted and begining to brown, about 10-15 minutes. Cut into triangles and tear into your cave pizza!