First Recipe Post

I know, I know! I promised I'd also share gluten/dairy free recipes for all you allergy friendly cooks out there! With my last basketball season as cheer coach under full swing, it has been difficult to cook gourmet GF/DF recipes lately. However, just because life gets busy, doesn't mean my food sensitivites go away. Which brings me to my inspiriation for the next few posts, quick, easy, and scrumptious recipes for the busy woman! It is a common but understandable myth that gluten/dairy free cooking is complicated and time consuming. I say understandable because I have spent a lot of time with my nose buried in cookbooks and magazines that would appear to prove this myth as true. Now don't get me wrong, if you are wanting to make a bread from complete sratch, be prepared to spend several hours in the kitchen, which I do when time allows me. However, in my almost three years as having a diet completely free of gluten, dairy, and red meat I have conjured up several of my own delicious dishes that do not required a cookbook or internet search! And remember, most of these ingredients can be adjusted to fit your allergy needs. If I say soy cheese but you don't have a dairy allergy, then please indulge in some creamy mozerella for those of us that can't!

Quick Bake Mini Pizzas

Ingredients:

1 jar of pizza sauce or italian style marinara (if you are watching your sugar, be sure to pick one with low grams of sugar)

Small 100% soft corn tortillas (rice tortillas also work, but are larger)

1 bag of soy shredded mozeralla cheese

1 teaspoon of olive oil

Pizza Toppings (of choice). I use:

1 package of turkey pepperonis

1/2 chopped green pepper

1/2 chopped onion

1 roma tomato (sliced)

Fennel Seed (if you like)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Quick sautee the green pepper, onion, and other veggies of choice in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until just softened.

Place tortilla shells on a greased cook sheet/pizza pan. Use as many as you like for how many people you are serving. Spread pizza sauce on tortillas. Sprinkle fennel seed on the sauce. Add pepperonis, then sauteed vegetables, tomato slices, and finally cheese. It is important that you put SOY cheese on last, as it takes longer to melt, so you want it to have the most exposure.

Cook in oven approximately 15-20 minutes until cheese melts. If this is your first time using soy cheese, a lot of brands do not melt to the consistency of dairy cheese. If the rest of your ingredients are cooked, but the cheese is still not quite melted to your preference, just pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.