Is it a pizza? Is it a salad? It’s both!

This was the star of dinner tonight:

I met up with a friend I used to work with, and we headed to Pizza Express for dinner. In case you don’t know, it’s a chain restaurant that’s really popular over here. They do a great range of salads, which I usually opt for, but this time I was really excited to try their new pizza. Here’s what the website says about it:

“PizzaExpress has created an entirely new kind of pizza. It’s called Leggera, pronounced Lay-jer-ah, which means ‘light’ in Italian. It has a hole in the middle, and a salad in the hole. Each one is designed to be about 500 calories, meaning that you can enjoy a tasty pizza without even the slightest pang of guilt.”

Now I’m a complete sucker for all things gimmicky like this. It’s marketed at people who go to restaurants wanting pizza but feeling like they should order salad – which pretty much sums me up perfectly!

I ordered the ‘Vitabella’ pizza, described on the menu as:

“A colourful medley of fior di latte mozzarella, whole asparagus spears, mixed chargrilled vegetables, fresh red and yellow peppers and oregano.”

Here it is minus the salad:

The verdict?

Good, but not as good as I was expecting. I think my tastebuds must have changed, because I used to love pizza and this just felt heavy and stodgy. I would have been a lot happier with a nice fresh salad I think! That said, if it’s pizza you want then it’s just as tasty as the normal ones in my opinion – there’s just less of it! And I finished the whole thing, so it definitely wasn’t that bad.

I eat out a lot, so I love places that have healthy options on their menus. I’m so jealous of all the healthy-eating and vegetarian places I read about on American blogs – we’re definitely lacking on that front over here.

Other days of the day:

For breakfast I had my usual – a bowl of muesli with strawberries, raspberries and skimmed milk.

 

I promise there’s some muesli hidden under there! This is what I have pretty much every weekday morning. Sometimes I just have strawberries, sometimes I have raspberries and sometimes I have blueberries – and sometimes, like today, I have a bit of a mixture. If I’m feeling really wild I might have some blackberries. What can I say, I love my berries!

I also had a banana.

Around 11am I snacked on this delicious berry nakd bar: 

Check out the nutritional info:

I tried this bar for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I love it. It’s got a really fruity flavour and has big chunks of oats and nuts in. Plus it’s smaller than a lot of bars, so it’s great for a little snack. I can’t wait to sample all the other flavours.

As a side note – I’m completely bar-crazy, as you’ll come to discover over the coming weeks!

Lunch was a wholemeal role with hummus, rocket and alfalfa sprouts that I brought in from home:

I was still hungry afterwards so I bought a fruit cup from work – I made sure I got one with lots of strawberries and grapes!

Then at about 4pm I snacked on an apple and carrot sticks.

I have to admit, I’m tend to be quite repetitive with my meals – especially lunch and dinner. But I’m beginning to branch out have started experimenting in the kitchen a lot more. The blogs I read have given me so many great ideas for meals, so I’m looking forward to trying them out and sharing the results with you guys!

I’ll sign off with a link to Lara’s latest post and direct you to her last paragraph. I just read it and it made an instant impact. I want this blog to be about healthy living, not counting calories or obsessing about weight. The blogging community has inspired me so much, and I want to pass inspiration and positive thoughts on to as many people as possible. Lara, you rock.

Good night everyone!

How has the blogging community inspired you? What have you learnt from it?