Pizza Night, Gluten Free Style
Pizza Night, Gluten Free Style. Oh, and must be Dairy Free. Oh, and one child is allergic to beef, the other pork. One son loves red sauce, the other despises it. Then there's the meat-loving, gluten and diary eating husband. By the time it comes to me, I just give up. Pizza night was not a weekly dinner tradition in our family. My boys would hear about other families having pizza night on Friday's and their school serves pizza for lunch every Friday. Birthday parties are the same. There is always pizza and birthday cake which are considered special treats. Our family has gone for years without being able to take part in these traditional rituals.
Enough is enough. It is my responsibility to make an extra effort to accommodate my children's special diets. I needed to step up to the plate. Batter up!!
This challenge really isn't that big of a deal once I quite trying to make a big deal out of it. I tried making homemade gluten free crusts as well as a regular crust for my husband. I had flour everywhere and wasn't even sure the crusts would turn out. You see, baking IS NOT my forte. Then, I had to decide what to top the crusts with. It was easy for my husband - meat, meat and more meat. However, my boys have allergies and one's allergy is not the same as the other.
Solution: Purchase the crust, have toppings on hand and make Eric pick his up on the way home. Simplicity is my new motto. I end up spending all day in the kitchen between cooking and cleaning so I can serve different meals to serve picky children with special diet restrictions. That is fine, sometimes. But there are days when I either need a break or have a million other things to do. I need some simple solutions in my back pocket since driving through fast food restaurants is not a good option for us.
I wish I would have taken a picture of Davis and Jackson's faces the first Friday night that I announced pizza night and they both had an entire pizza to themselves. Even if I would have taken a picture, the pure joy on their faces would have been difficult to capture.
I have two separate recipes for pizza night. Each are super duper easy and inexpensive. I buy one package of
gluten free pizza crust that contains 2 crusts.
D's Turkey Bacon Pizza - Gluten Free and Dairy Free
1/2 Cup Organic Pizza Sauce (make sure it is dairy free)
4 slices Turkey Bacon
Place crust on cookie sheet or pizza pan. Spread with pizza sauce covering entire crust. Cut up uncooked turkey bacon into bite sized pieces and evenly distribute over entire pizza. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.
J's Meatball Pizza - Gluten Free and Dairy Free
2 Tb Dairy Free, Gluten Free Butter Spread
1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
Place crust on cookie sheet or pizza pan. Spread with pizza butter spread covering entire crust. Season with garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Cut meatballs into quartered pieces and evenly distribute over entire pizza. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.
