Gluten-free Pizza-Quesadilla-Calzone-Thingy

I've decided to start experimenting with a gluten-free lifestyle. Cause I need more stuff to obsess over, right?


I already don't eat much wheat, but I've read up on it recently (okay, the free sample of Wheat Belly that I downloaded on my Kindle) and while I am not completely convinced that wheat is inherently evil, I am curious enough to tinker around see whether eliminating it helps me get rid of my little pregnancy souvenir. I'm talking here about the poochy tummy, not the baby. I'm keeping the baby, so hands off! 


There are really only three instances of wheat in my life: my morning toast,  my Wednesday night homemade pizza, and my Friday night Papa John's pizza. Pizza is kind of a big deal to me. I know it's not good to put food on a pedestal but I would totally marry pizza if I could. But I digress.


The morning toast was an easy enough substitute. One loaf of Udi's Whole Grain bread instead of whole wheat did the trick and it is dang good! Udi's also makes a pizza crust but my grocery store didn't carry it so I decided to try making a pizza calzone with a gluten-free wrap instead. It was really really good and I will definitely keep this substitution!  Check out how I did it:


I used Food for Life's Brown Rice Tortilla. I defrosted it in the microwave and put it on my pizza pan. It stiffens up fast so you have to move quickly to fill it up and fold it over without breaking it.

I put a little tomato sauce, some spinach (of course), black olives, onion, banana peppers, and green pepper on half of it, and sprinkled one ounce of mozzarella cheese on top. A little italian seasoning and garlic, and then I folded it over. It wanted to pop back open so I used the side of the other pizza crust I was also baking for my husband and son (who for some reason do not want to take part in my food experiments) to keep it closed.


Popped it in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes. The wrap is not pliable at all, so the end result was more of a quesadilla than a calzone since it was kind of crunchy and flaky. No matter to me! It was really good and I totally wanted more when it was all gone.  Good thing I also made a big salad!

I wanted more! You can make it bigger by
using two tortillas on top of each other with
filling between, or just use one and
not fold it over.

Now, I know the purpose of a gluten-free diet is not to just replace glutenous products with other grains. But, since I don't have any medical reason to go gluten-free and am just recreational in my pursuits, I feel pretty happy with my changes.  


And yes, that means I am keeping the Papa John's! That probably makes me a hypocrite but you can go ahead and judge me. I've made my peace with it.


Get out there and get healthy today!