I’ve been trying to eat healthier lately, as well as be more conscious of what goes into my body, which means cooking more in The Hippo Within’s test kitchen. I’ve also been trying out gluten-free (GF) recipes and products, or tweaking non-GF recipes, and will be sharing the hippo-approved meals I’ve enjoyed.

A lot of people think GF food isn’t as flavorful, provide the same taste or texture as the “real” stuff, or simply just doesn’t taste good, but I’ve found that’s just not true. Yes, some products are a no-go, and I wouldn’t buy them again, but there are a lot of tasty options out there too! I think it boils down to finding the right products and the perfect mix of ingredients to pull your meal together. And for those of you who aren’t looking for GF meals, just swap in regular ingredients, and everyone will be happy.

Now, let’s get into the good stuff! The food! And boy, do I have an easy and delicious dish to start us off – pizza! Prosciutto, mozzarella, and spinach with a basil pesto sauce to be exact!

Here’s the rundown of what you need:

Serving size: 4

Ingredients:

1 Pizza crust

6 oz. Basil pesto sauce

4 oz. Prosciutto

8 oz. Mozzarella ball – sliced

3 oz. Fresh Spinach

(optional) Salt and pepper, to taste

And now, let’s get started:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees so it’s nice and toasty by them time you put the pizza together.

Since I’m trying to eat GF, I started off with Schär’s gluten-free pizza crusts, found in the gluten-free section at your local Sprouts. Bonus: it comes in a two-pack, so you can have left-overs for lunch, or feed more people if need be. The cooked crust provides a nice crunch as well!

Then, take about 4 tablespoons of your favorite pesto sauce and spread a thin layer all over the crust.

Next, slice up the mozzarella balls into 1/2″ thick pieces and arrange them on the pizza.

I add the mozarrella first, so as it melts, it coats the whole pizza. Then, I take one slice of prosciutto and pull it apart into bite size pieces, add that on top of the mozarrella, and slide the pizza into the oven. If you’re thinking “one slice?!”, don’t worry, we’ll add more prosciutto later!

When the pizza is about 5 minutes from being done, I take it out and add about two handfuls of raw spinach. Adding the spinach now keeps it from getting too wilted and soft, so when you bite into the pizza, the spinach provides just the right amount of crisp freshness. You can never have too much prosciutto, so tear apart two more slices, and sprinkle them amongst the spinach.

*Some other alternatives include: (1) sticking the pizza back in the over for a couple of minutes to let the spinach and additional prosciutto meld together with the rest of the ingredients, (2) drizzling more basil pesto sauce over the top of everything, or (3) both!

Hope you enjoy!