My love-hate relationship with pizza

I really should have picked an easier first recipe, but pizza is my favorite food and I felt I needed to find an alternative ASAP. I was given a GF pizza dough mix from a friend, but a disclaimer to all: I cannot bake. I love to cook, but baking is a whole different ball game. I once "baked" a cake but never combined the wet and dry ingredients so my mom came home to burnt flour, essentially. My resident expert (R.E.) experienced this lack of baking know-how first hand tonight. I won't give you every play-by-play, but I'll say that the highlight was definitely when my mixer started smoking and I just kept chugging along until my R.E. intervened and told me it was not, in fact, supposed to do that.

Anyway, I was trying to adapt a Paula Deen recipe where she made veggie pizza on English muffins (see recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/veggie-pizza-minis-recipe/index.html). So while my dough was rising (supposedly), I sauteed some eggplant and grated zucchini in olive oil and simmered the mixture in crushed tomatoes. I pre-baked my pizza dough for about 5 minutes and then put on my eggplant sauce along with some fresh spinach and shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. I then baked for another 10-15 minutes and-viola! Pizza!

So, the verdict: After spending about 2 hours total prepping, reading and re-reading instructions, waiting for dough to rise, and baking, I thought surely this would not be worth the work. (I mean Mellow Mushroom is right down the road if I need pizza that badly). But I was pleasantly surprised! More than that- it was really good! It was great texture and taste and I can't wait to eat it again..probably for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because I have so much. I used the remaining half of the dough to make bread, which was also quite tasty! So for the skeptics out there- you can still enjoy good pizza and bread while following a GF eating plan. Trust me, if I can bake successfully, anyone can. I mean that. (Although I do recommend that everyone get their own Resident Experts just in case).