21.4.13

Pizza Without

I discovered about 8 months ago that I'm allergic to dairy products.  Seeing as cheese was one of my all time favorites it was a bit disappointing.  I like to cook I have been thinking about the qualities dairy, especially cheese, adds to the foods I like and how to substitute something else.  Mostly I have been discovering that just making things very flavorful keeps me from even noticing the absence. 

 I recently made a pizza and it was so great that I wanted to share.  I bought a ready made crust (Mama Mary's was the brand, Boboli's have milk in them) and I added sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, red pepper, some chopped olives.  The winning ingredient was roasted onions and garlic.  To roast, slice 5 onions into eight segments (like an orange) and put them in an 8x8 glass pan with about 8 cloves of garlic, skins still on.  Tossed them in olive oil and roasted them in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.  After I took them out I covered the pan tightly with some aluminum foil (be careful, the pan is very hot) and let it sit for about 10 to 20 minutes.  This step isn't really necessary but I wanted them to cook a bit more and I was afraid if they stayed in the oven they would start to char.  I peeled and chopped the garlic and sprinkled it all over the pizza and voila!  It was delicious and it makes enough for two pizzas.  You will notice in the photo that half of it has cheese...that's for my husband.