Pizza Cups

Convenience foods are a mama's best friend, and the king of all convenience food is, of course, frozen pizza! Unfortunately, most frozen pizzas don't fit into the MSPI diet. (Although, Amy's Kitchen makes a pretty decent Roasted Vegetable Pizza that's MSPI-friendly, but it's pretty expensive.) So that means making your own frozen pizza, and this recipe works great!

You can easily adapt each individual pizza to your family members' preferences. Some with veggies, some without. Some with MSPI-friendly cheese -- or real cheese for those who can have it -- some without. Have fun! Let your kiddos make their own!

I highly recommend making a double batch ... one batch to eat right away and another to freeze. Trust me, you'll love having these on hand!

Pizza Cups

Source: Adapted from Restless Chipotle and “Betty Crocker’sNew Cookbook”

½ lb. ground beef or Italian sausage

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

½ cup regular or palm shortening

¾ cup rice milk

1 jar MSPI-friendly pizza or pasta sauce

Chopped pizza toppings, such as pepperoni, onions, green peppers, olives, etc.

MSPI-friendly shredded cheese, such as Daiya, optional

Crumble and brown the ground beef or Italian sausage. If using beef, season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, etc., to taste. Set the meat aside to cool.

To prepare the biscuit dough, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture using a pastry blender or crisscrossing two knives, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in rice milk until dough leaves side of bowl. (The dough will be soft and sticky.)

Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll or pat dough to ½-inch thick. Cut with floured 2½-inch round cutter, rerolling the scraps until all the dough is used. (You should end up with 12-14 biscuits.) Using an ungreased muffin pan, place one biscuit in the bottom of each cup. With floured fingers, push and flatten the biscuits up the sides of the cups.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Divide ground meat between the cups, about 2 tablespoons each. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of sauce on top. Sprinkle with pizza toppings and cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes or until biscuit shells begin to brown and toppings are heated through. Remove from oven and allow pizzas to rest a few minutes, then remove pizzas to a serving dish and enjoy!

To freeze: Arrange pizza cups on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer overnight. Once frozen, pizzas can be stored in a freezer-safe container or wrap, such as foil. To reheat frozen pizzas, heat in the microwave one to two minutes, or until hot.

Tip: Short on time? Use MSPI-friendly biscuit mix, such as Bisquick, and follow the package directions to prepare the dough with rice milk. Or if you can find ones that are safe for you, use MSPI-friendly canned biscuits.

Vegetarian: Replace the ground meat with sauteed vegetables, such as spinach, mushrooms, onions, etc. Or try this MSPI-friendly meat substitute.