fresh & easy pizza

We love pizza, but it can quickly become an expensive and fattening habit! I wanted to come up with a tasty, cheap version of one of my favorites - a margherita pizza - and I started making this about 6 months ago.

For the "crust", I just use flat bread! The Indian Flat Bread from Trader Joe's is great, as well as Tia Rosa Tortilla Bread, which is pretty easy to find at most major grocery stores. I buy parmesan that's been cut from the wheel, and it tastes SO GOOD. I never knew how delicious and unique the flavor of real parmesan is compared to the powdery stuff that comes in the green can, but wow ... HUGE difference!

For this blog post I pictured butter, because our olive oil was too big to photograph, but you can substitute the butter for olive oil, which is what I prefer to do.

Wash the basil leaves, then slice up the cheese and tomato. Here's a tip for slicing up the cheese: use a veggie slicer like this one! It's so much easier than cutting it with a knife.

Pour about 1/4 a cup of olive oil (or butter) in a sauce pan, and spoon in about 1 teaspoon of garlic. Let it simmer a little bit, then pour into a cup or bowl and set aside. DON'T wash the pan yet! Put the sliced tomatoes in and cook them down until they're soft, about 3 minutes if your pan is on low heat.

Spread the tomato sauce on the tortilla bread on the smooth side! Leave the bumpy side down because it will make it a little crispier. Top with the leaves, tomatoes, and cheese, then drizzle the olive oil/garlic around the edges of the "crust".

Cook at 350 for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.