The favorite food in our family is, without a doubt, pizza. It's the one meal that everyone in the house can agree on. Cheesy bready deliciousness topped with more bits of yum ~ what's not to love?! The only thing we can't agree on is the toppings. G-man prefers pepperoni with a garlic cream sauce. Bean likes sausage. Princess wants both sausage and pepperoni, and she won't turn down pineapple if it's an option. Brick is a big fan of multi-meat combos, while my favorite is vegetarian with garlic sauce. And the Dude likes his with sausage, mushrooms, and black olives. Beaker? He loves them all!
Since Beaker's allergies were diagnosed, we haven't had pizza here much. He can't have garlic, dairy, or wheat - pretty much the main ingredients in pizza. It took some thinking, but I finally came up with a great option for him!
To make these gluten free mini pizzas for Beaker, I used Udi's GF hamburger buns as the base. They are free of most of the main allergens, including wheat, soy, dairy, and nuts. They do contain egg whites though, so if you're allergic to eggs watch out for that. I used my hand to slightly flatten half the bun, then topped with the sauce. Since most commercial pasta and pizza sauces contain garlic, I used crushed tomatoes with a bit of dried oregano and onion powder mixed in for sauce. After lightly smearing on a bit of the sauce, I topped with a sprinkle of cheese. We have been challenging cheese this week and so far Beaker has been doing great with small amounts of cheese. No reactions! However, if you are dairy free you can try soy or rice based cheese ~ I have heard that Daiya works well for melting.
I topped his mini pizza with a slice of Canadian bacon, then toasted in the oven at 385 degrees for about 4-5 minutes, until the cheese was lightly browned and bubbly on top. While it was still hot, I placed a cheese star on top, for a little extra pop of flavor and decoration.
Beaker absolutely LOVES his mini pizzas, and he is super thrilled to be able to eat pizza again. We have also made these with broccoli, peppers, onions, and zucchini on top for a delicious veggie mini pizza. He goes back and forth on which is his favorite, but either way he loves them. The small size is just perfect for his little hands and tummy.
They travel surprisingly well, too. I packed up this mini pizza dinner for Beaker for an evening out and it worked out nicely. It was easy to pop the pizza in to a microwave for a few seconds to warm it up so he could eat his dinner hot. He also has lightly steamed carrots, pitted cherries, and apple pieces on the side. For dessert I packed a pair of GF lemon cookies and a few fruit gummies. Perfect night out dinner for a little guy with allergies!
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Yummy! It looks like Captain America's shield! :D
ReplyDeleteI had that same thought! I wasn't sure though, since I haven't seen the movies yet.
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