We Heart (Gluten Free) PIzza!

Like nearly everyone ever, Beaker loves pizza. LOVES. The kid would happily eat pizza for dinner every night for the rest of forever. And who can blame him? Pizza is awesome! Hot slices of doughy, saucy, cheesy deliciousness.

We are shin guards deep in soccer/cheer/band perfomance season here. G-man is a freshman this year, and his high school band plays all of the football games. Bean and Lulu are in cheer, and Beaker is in soccer. We have practice four evenings a week and three to five games every Saturday. Plus the Dude and I both work, and occasionally have to shovel out from under the mess of seven people at home. So dinners can get pretty hectic and rushed around here! Every now and then, it's pretty tempting to just swing by a pizza place and pick up a few pies on the way home. So fast and convenient!

Except takeout pizza isn't an option when you have a kid who is allergic to wheat and garlic.

Thank goodness for ready made gluten-free pizza crusts!

I keep packs of gluten-free pizza crusts in the freezer. I haven't yet perfected making homemade pizza dough (translation: All of the ones I have tried so far have been inedible lumpy messes), so having these ready to go is a huge help. I think his favorite are these from Schar! On nights when I know we will be especially rushed, I pull one out before heading out for practice and tuck it in the fridge to thaw. They thaw pretty quickly, so by the time we get home from practice and picking up a take-and-bake pie or two for the rest of the family, the crust is ready to go.

Beaker can't eat commercial pizza sauces, so I usually make one for him using crushed tomatoes and a bit of pepper, rosemary, and oregano. Or sometimes I just brush butter and parmesan cheese on the crust, his favorite. Then top with shredded mozzarella and sprinkle grated parmesan along the crust.

Okay, so I don't always cut heart shapes in the ham slices, but he does love the extra special touches. To make your pizza super cute like his, use two sizes of heart shaped cookie or fondant cutter to cut out the shapes.

Arrange your toppings on top and sprinkle just a little bit more cheese over that. Beaker's favorite pizza toppings are Canadian bacon and pineapple. I like pepperoni, spinach, and mushrooms on mine!

Bake at 425 degrees. And like magic, eight to ten minutes later you have dinner!

One pizza crust makes enough pizza for Beaker to have dinner plus lunch the next day, so BOOM, two meals in one shot. Pop the rest of the pizzas in the oven and dinner is served. Easy and fast, perfect for busy nights!

What are your favorite pizza toppings?

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GF Mini Pizzas

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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