With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, you know I'm going to start getting in on the Irish grub, just like I always do. I've made some pretty tasty stuff before, mostly some of the classics and staples that I came to know and love.

This time though, I wanted to step outside of the box a bit. So, I decided to load a pizza up with some of my favorite Irish flavors. Namely Irish cheddar and a dark stout beer. I also had to get my fill of green in there, because you know... St. Patrick's Day is all about the green. ...And beer.

Mostly beer though.

To keep this pizza lighter and better-for-you, I of course made my own whole wheat crust. But, there's also some pretty good pre-made frozen and ready-to-bake options out there - like the 7 grain flatzza that I ran into the other day. If you aren't feeling particular crafty, you can always opt out for one of those as well. Other than that, I loaded on the vegetables and served the pizza with a nice fresh chopped salad.

For the base of the pizza, I used an all natural bourbon BBQ sauce that I'm familiar with instead of the usual 'tomato' sauce. This is just because I wanted to stick with that Irish theme and bourbon sauce just seemed a good alternative to that.

Of course, I've also made my own Healthified Guinness BBQ Sauce before too, and this would be a great place to use that if you have a few extra minutes on hand! It's a quick fix, but wasn't quite quick enough for me today. Especially since I was making my own dough and all.

Oh, and Irish cheddar? Yeah, it's pretty much to die for. I decided to go with the 'Blarney' version today because it's softer and more melty than some of the other harder Irish cheddars available. Honestly, though... you couldn't go wrong with any of them. All types are equally amazing in their own way.

Yum! This pizza is perfectly cheesy and full of flavor just as I had intended. What's better is that this is a meatless meal that few (if anyone) will notice considering there's so much other flavor and texture going on.

Whole Wheat Guinness & Irish Cheddar Pizza
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 8 • Size: 1 Slice • Calories: 207.3 • Fat: 6 g • Carb: 29 g • Fiber: 2.2 g • Protein: 9 g • Sugar: 2.4 g • Sodium: 656 mg

Ingredients:
1/4 C. Yellow Onion, Chopped
1/4 C. Green Bell Pepper, Chopped
1/2 C. Mushrooms, Sliced
1/4 C. Dark Stout Beer (Such as Guinness.)
1/4 C. Bourbon BBQ Sauce (I used one that was 100 calories for 1/4 cup.)
1 Uncooked Wheat Pizza Dough Crust (I used my homemade one, but any you prefer.)
1/2 C. Shredded Irish Cheddar
1 C. Reduced Fat Shredded Pizza Cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. (Or accordingly to your dough recipe/instructions.) and lightly coat a pizza pan with non stick-spray; set aside.

Lightly coat the inside of a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray as well.

Add the 1/4 C. Yellow Onion, 1/4 C. Green Bell Pepper, 1/2 C. Mushrooms, 1/4 C. Dark Stout Beer to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until the veggies are tender and the beer has cooked down.

Place your rolled out pizza dough on a pizza pan and spread the 1/4 C. BBQ sauce evenly over the dough.

Sprinkle the 1/2 C. Shredded Irish Cheddar and 1 C. Reduced Fat Shredded Pizza Cheese over the sauce.

Top the cheese with the cooked vegetables and place the pan into the oven to bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges of the crust are brown and the cheese is good and melted.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow the pizza to cool slightly before slicing into 8 equal pieces.

Obviously a few pieces had already been taken and eaten here. Haha!

Enjoy right away!