Lesson Description:
Students can grow their own pizza by planting the vegatables and herbs to top it. After growing and harvesting their pizza garden, children can make and enjoy their own healthy pizza creations.

Eco-Fact: The average US supermarket now adds nearly 10,000 new products to its shelves each year.

Procedure:
Prior to Making Pizza:
Everyone loves pizza! What’s not to love? And when you make your own, you can get as creative as you’d like. Make pizza dough, or buy it at the grocery store; you can also improvise with pita bread or English muffins to make individual sizes.

Plant a pizza theme garden, including your favorite toppings such as onions, garlic, peppers, eggplant,and zucchini. Then you will have the herbs and vegetables you need readily on hand!

Oregano: Oregano is an herb that contains Thymol and Rosmarinic acid; powerful antioxidants that can prevent oxygen-based damage to cell structures within the body. It is easy to grow in the garden or in containers.

Basil: A fragrant herb that grows easily in a sunny spot. It contains Orientin and Vicenin, powerful antioxidants. Some would argue that a garden without basil is simply not complete. It is by far the most delicious accompaniment to tomatoes in the summer.

Tomatoes: There are several varieties of tomatoes. The kind used on pizza is usually of the Roma variety; they are juicier and fleshier than ordinary tomatoes. That being said, don’t let it stop you from growing and using any variety of tomato that you want on your pizza.

Instructions for Tomato Sauce:

1. Peel and dice tomatoes to about ¼ inch size. If you chop them in a bowl you will lose very little of the precious juice. Peel and mince garlic and cut onion to make ¼ cup. 
2. Sauté garlic in olive oil and add onion. Cook until soft, stirring often so that it does not brown. 
3. Add tomatoes to the olive oil. 
4. Cook sauce while stirring often. As tomatoes become softer, press with the back of a wooden spoon. Salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Tear oregano and basil into small pieces and add to the sauce. 
6. Cook for about five minutes.Let cool and drizzle on pizza crust. 

Instructions To Assemble Pizzas:
Arrange english muffin halves on a cookie sheet that you have sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, or lined with aluminum foil. Spread tomato sauce and toppings onto each pita and bake for 5-8 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on each pita and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

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Lesson Type:

• Experiment
• Project

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Sustainability Topic:

• Gardening

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GEF Program Category:

• Waste Reduction Challenge
• Green Thumb Challenge

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Materials Needed:
Ingredients for sauce:

• 4 Roma tomatoes 
• 2 teaspoons of Olive oil 
• 2 cloves of minced garlic 
• 1 small onion 
• 5 medium-sized basil leaves 
• ¼ cup chopped oregano 

• One package of English muffins (for a total of 12 mini-pizzas) 
• Pizza toppings (optional): herbs or vegetables from garden!

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