Healthy Alternatives To Pizza Rolls

Pizza rolls -- also known as calzones, stromboli, pizza pockets or pizza snacks -- range between bite-sized and plate-filling. Finding healthy alternatives means matching the flavor of the rich tomato sauce and earthy mushrooms, the texture of the crisp crust, crunchy vegetables and gooey cheese, and the bite of the spicy pepperoni. It also requires using fresh, locally-grown ingredients when in season, instead of using canned sauces and vegetables, dried pepperoni and ready-made crusts.

Homemade Mini Pizzas

It's incredibly easy to compound the high fat, salt and calorie counts in pizza rolls simply by eating wrong-size portions. A single, full-plate calzone weighs between 12 and 16 ounces or more, and it isn't difficult to eat the entire thing in one sitting. A 6.5-ounce half-order of Pizza Hut Pepperoni P'zone has 450 calories and 1120 milligrams of sodium, while half a Sbarro pepperoni stromboli has 445 calories and 1, 235 milligrams of sodium.
Homemade mini pizzas will have about 320 calories and 518 milligrams of sodium per serving if you choose the right ingredients: A sliced, grilled Roma tomato, an onion and a clove of garlic pureed with a sprig of fresh basil and a teaspoon of oregano, serves as a tasty, low-sodium pizza sauce. Toast an English muffin and spread each half with 3 tablespoons of your homemade pizza sauce. Top the muffin with 1 tablespoon of chopped chicken and a teaspoon of Parmesan cheese.

Meatball Subs

Combine 1 pound of ground turkey, 1 cup of plain bread crumbs and 1 large egg and form into bite-sized meatballs. Separately stir together 1/2 cup of canned tomato paste, 1/2 cup of onions and 2 tablespoons of water to make a low-calorie sauce. Using these proportions, a 4-ounce serving of meatballs on a toasted hotdog bun topped with a tablespoon of Parmesan will about 495 calories, with only has 617 milligrams of sodium per serving - about a 400 calorie savings from the typical calzone or stromboli. Each meatball sub provides a little over 22 grams of protein per serving; Calzone and stromboil weigh in at about 19 grams each respectively.

Pizza Pasta

If you replace the hotdog bun with 1 cup of cooked macaroni noodles, you triple the selenium and lighten the sodium load by 205 milligrams. You also add another 38 calories to the new dish, though. Adding 1/4 cup of diced red and green bell pepper to each serving increases the vitamin A content by 2 percent while adding only 4.5 calories.

Buffalo Chicken Pitas

If you replace the macaroni with a 6-inch pita and top it with 3 tablespoons of chicken and 1/4 cup of bell pepper strips, you can make a Buffalo chicken pita. For the Buffalo sauce, mix 1 cup plain yogurt and 1 tablespoon of hot sauce. Top the chicken and peppers with 1 ounce of Buffalo sauce and your pita tops out at 267 calories, while the sodium level stays around 450 milligrams per serving.