Caramelized onion and apple pizza

We have enough snow on the ground to officially declare it winter again. Shopping is out of the question so a quick inventory of the fridge had me absolutely scratching my head for ideas. Of course, I spent a whole hour hungry until my mind came up with a delicious recipe putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

It's always pizza time. Pizza has a bad rap for being a non health food because the crust has too many carbs, the cheese adds too many calories, and the meat is usually of doubtful quality. To top it off, commercially made tomato sauce is too full of sugars. You get little fiber and you get lots of calories and you usually overeat it. Agreed?

Well, as most of my Hot Cooking Class students know, pizza can be made with a variety of crusts, and using no flour, if you wish, or a simple base like Italian Mock Bread, or even just an omelet.

For the cheese, just use a modest amount, you don't have to have it layered thick on top. You will get the flavor and you don't need a whole lot.

You can use sundried tomatoes, slow roasted tomatoes or fresh tomatoes instead of a sauce or look for a plain sauce with less sugar or simply leave the sauce out and use pesto or cream cheese or olive pate for the base.

For tonight's version of pizza I used a very thin pita bread, something the Lebanese would use for a pocket or a wrap. It's as big as a medium tortilla, so feel free to use that.

For the toppings, I used cheddar cheese and you can use any soft easy to melt mild cheese. I also used caramelized onion and apple, which added amazing flavor and lots of texture and fiber.

Ingredients for 1 serving:
1 tortilla or pita (thin), possibly whole wheat and high fiber
1 large onion (red)
1/2 green apple
2 tbsp cream cheese
2 oz grated cheddar or swiss cheese
1/2 tbsp butter

Preheat the over to 400 F. Cut the onion and apple, cutting the onion into long thin strips and the apple in small cubes or thin wedges. Place in a small pan with the butter and place in the oven to caramelize. Meanwhile, spread the cream cheese on the pita and grate cheese on top. After the onion and apple have cooked (12-15 minutes), place them on top of the pizza and broil for another 5 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with a warning, since it's very delicious.