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Gluten-Free Grain-Free Mini Pizza Faces Recipe

January 23, 2013 by Jeanette 14 Comments

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Gluten-Free Grain-Free Mini Pizza Faces are allergy-friendly, kid-friendly and just pure fun to make and eat!Vegetarian Pizza Face (gluten-free grain-free) © Jeanette's Healthy LivingAs soon as my youngest son gets off the bus, he is starving, so every afternoon I make him a hearty snack. It’s actually gotten a bit out of hand and I can blame no one but myself. I started out with simpler snacks, but somehow snack time has evolved into a major event each day. Some of my son’s favorite after school snacks include Buffalo Chicken Dip, Skinny Spinach Dip and Hot Chili Cheese Dip. Of course, there are days when I’m feeling a bit lazy and just lay out a plate with cheese, crackers and grapes.

A few weeks ago, I spotted some cute mini pizzas in a copy of Prevention magazine. What caught my eye was that the pizza dough was gluten-free and grain-free. Although I don’t bake grain-free purposefully, I am completely open to trying recipes that are grain-free. I love the idea of personal size pizzas, and had been thinking of making a smiley face pizza for my son for a while.

Pizzas are often given a bad rap because of all the unhealthy toppings that sometimes end up on them. However, pizzas can also be the perfect vehicle to get kids to eat more vegetables – that’s right, why not make snack time fun and nutritious?

I made a batch of gluten-free, grain-free pizza dough and pre-baked the crusts. Although this crust does not taste like regular pizza crust, it holds together well and my son loved it. It’s a heartier type of crust. Of course, the toppings make all the difference. Gluten Free Grain Free Pizza Dough © Jeanette's Healthy Living

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Pizza Crust © Jeanette's Healthy Living

The first individual pizza I made was a happy face – curly hair made with broccoli florets, eyes made with Columbus Italian dry salame (humanely raised, uncured, antibiotic-free, nitrate and nitrite-free, gluten-free) and olives, and a nose and mouth cut from a red bell pepper.

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Vegetable Sausage Pizza © Jeanette's Healthy Living

The second personal pizza I made was Mediterranean style – feta cheese, Kalamata olives, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and a little Greek seasoning.

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Mediterranean Pizza © Jeanette's Healthy Living

Kids use their eyes and nose to decide whether or not they’re going to eat something. Let’s just say, there was no complaining at all about the vegetables on these pizzas – he happily ate the Happy Face pizza and a few more slices of the Greek pizza. In my book, that’s about 1.5 servings of vegetables at snack time – not bad ;).

I stashed the rest of the pre-baked pizza crusts in my freezer so I could pull them out to make a quick and healthy snack for my son during the week. I’ve been making these over the past week with all the bits and pieces of vegetables in my refrigerator. Of course, you can use whatever your child’s favorite vegetables are.

Today, Food Network and a group of bloggers is featuring Pizza for this week’s Comfort Food Feast event. Please stop by and see what everyone made:

Jeanette’s Healthy Living: Gluten-Free Grain-Free Mini Pizza Faces
Feed Me Phoebe: Deep-Dish Polenta Pizza With Onions and Pesto
Cooking With Elise: Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza
Haute Apple Pie: Honey, Gouda and Goat Cheese Pizza
What’s Gaby Cooking: Loaded Veggie and Prosciutto Pizza
Sweet Life Bake: Mexican Pizza – Tlayuda con Chorizo y Frijoles
Devour: Unexpected but Delicious Pizza Toppings
Virtually Homemade: Mashed Potato Bacon Pizza
The Cultural Dish: Pizza Pizza Pizza! Three Delicious Variations
Thursday Night Dinner: Beet and Goat Cheese Pizza
The Heritage Cook: Gluten-Free Pizza Focaccia
FN Dish: As Quick as Delivery Pizza Recipes

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Pizza Crust © Jeanette's Healthy Living
Print

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Mini Pizzas

This gluten-free, grain-free crust is heartier than the typical pizza crust. These are a fun way to get kids to eat their vegetables either at snack time or for dinner. Be creative and make faces or animal shapes with the pizza for more fun.
Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 6 mini pizzas

Ingredients

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Pizza Dough

  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1 cup chickpea flour plus extra for rolling out dough
  • 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Toppings

  • 1 1/2 cup marinara sauce
  • lightly steamed broccoli florets
  • chopped tomatoes
  • olives
  • thinly sliced uncured salami
  • sliced bell pepper
  • onion slivers
  • minced garlic
  • shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese or Feta cheese

Instructions

Pizza Dough

  1. Place water and yeast in a small bowl, mix well, and let sit for 10 minutes.
  2. Place almond flour, chickpea flour, flaxseed meal and salt in a mixing bowl and mix together. Add oil and yeast mixture and mix until blended. Add more almond flour, chickpea flour or flaxseed meal as needed to make a soft ball of dough.
  3. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Divide dough into 6 round pieces. Sprinkle some flour (almond, chickpea or flaxseed meal) inside a large ziploc bag. Place one of the dough pieces inside the bag and pat on each side with flour. Use a rolling pin on the outside of the bag to roll the dough into a 4" diameter circle.
  6. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Use crust immediately or freeze for later.

Mini Pizzas

  1. Spread a little marinara sauce on top of baked pizza crust. Top with your favorite toppings, using a nice variety of vegetables.
  2. Bake about 10 minutes, until toppings are warmed through.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Prevention Magazine.

 

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Filed Under: gluten-free, healthy choices, Kids Cooking, lunch, main courses, snacks, Special Diets Tagged With: Columbus Naturals, gluten-free pizza dough recipe, grain-free pizza dough recipe, happy face pizzas, kid-friendly pizza toppings, nitrate free meats, sustainable products

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Comments

  1. Elise Johnson says

    January 23, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    Oh, I love tech creativity, Jeannette! you reminded me of when my sons were children. We sued to create our own individual pizzas. The boys were always so creative. Sometime we even chose a particular theme or geographic location to help us choose toppings!

    Reply
  2. Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says

    January 23, 2013 at 1:57 pm

    So much more creative than the milk and cookies I used to get from my mom for afterschool snacks!

    Reply
  3. Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says

    January 23, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    Oh, these are *so* great Jeanette. Have to pin & FB these… too good not to share! ;0)

    Reply
  4. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    January 23, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    How fun! Perfect way to get kids involved with their food.

    Reply
  5. Jane Bonacci, The Heritage Cook says

    January 23, 2013 at 10:53 pm

    How adorable are these mini pizzas! I know your kids must love them – I know I would have a blast creating different expressions. Excellent choice Jeanette!!

    Reply
  6. Alyssa (Everyday Maven) says

    January 23, 2013 at 11:13 pm

    That is adorable Jeanette – my son would love that!!!! I am trying this with him – thank you 🙂

    Reply
  7. Kim - Liv Life says

    January 23, 2013 at 11:33 pm

    Love this!! Just the other day we were talking about when the kids were little. We had a pasta called “Chicken Face”. The kids were supposed to ask, “Chicken Face, can I eat you?” before they ate it, which of course became a game where the ate it but didn’t ask. Cleaned their plate every time!

    Reply
  8. Carolyn says

    January 24, 2013 at 7:13 am

    Haha, so cute!

    Reply
  9. Kiersten @ Oh My Veggies says

    January 24, 2013 at 9:08 am

    These are such a cute idea! I love the broccoli hair. 🙂

    Reply
  10. Kalyn says

    January 24, 2013 at 10:34 am

    Must try this pizza crust!

    Reply
  11. Ellen (Gluten Free Diva) says

    January 24, 2013 at 11:29 am

    These look adorable and delicious. The crusts look nice and crispy, kind of like a thin-crust gluten-y pizza. Great job!

    Reply
  12. Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking says

    January 24, 2013 at 2:42 pm

    These are so fun, and I love that they’re so healthy too! Great recipe, Jeanette!

    Reply
  13. France @ Beyond The Peel says

    January 24, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    I have been craving pizza, but staying away from gluten. One of the problems I seem to encounter is that the dough doesn’t stick together well. I look forward to trying this out. It would totally satisfy this craving so I could move on. You know how it is? Can’t get it off the brain until I eat it.

    Reply
  14. foodwanderings says

    January 25, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    Congrats on the nomination Jeanette. GF baking always fascinates me. Just by looking at the pie crust I know I am already won over. Yum.

    Reply

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