Hidden Ingredients = Watch Out!!!!

Well, our three-month old is still showing small signs of her dairy, etc. intolerance which continually has me wondering what I can do differently so we get past this. In looking for foods that have eggs (since the doctor said that eggs would be the next food I have to eliminate if things don’t improve), Dave and I found that the bread that I thought was fine for me has soy flour. Ugh, so frustrating. I spent the first part of the day wondering how on earth I could have missed that and just so upset at myself for not doing a better job. I feel like I have been scrutinizing EVERYTHING I’ve been eating. Turns out, there were just some foods that I didn’t even think to check!

Within a three-day period, we discovered 3 foods that I’ve been eating somewhat consistently over the past month that have either soy or dairy. Unbelievable. Apparently pasta sauce has soybean oil in it. Who would’ve thought? If you saw my last post, Dave and I have been on a Friday night pizza kick for the last 4 or 5 Fridays. Typically, we just use Francesca Rinaldi pasta sauce on our pizza. Not anymore! Dave had to run out Friday night in order to get something that would fit my dietary needs when we discovered the soybean oil in the tomato sauce. Geez. Pasta sauce!

Thursday, i made coconut carob cookie bars, and Emma and I surprised Dave at work. Well as I was enjoying one of the last two bars that were left, it dawned on me that we never checked the carob chip ingredients. Dave can’t have chocolate because it’s one of the foods that flares up the meningitis virus. He has to eat carob if he wants a semi-chocolate fix. I can’t have certain chocolates because some contain milk, so we just figured I’d eat the carob too. Nope. Carob chips are made with milk and whey, which is also a dairy product. Yikes. Strike three.

I am hopeful that these few foods were the cause of Emma’s continuing problems, although minor. Hopefully all symptoms disappear within the next few days since I am now *almost* positive that nothing else in my diet contains dairy, soy, or beef. Lesson learned: There’s soy in a ridiculous number of things!!!!

Friday Night Pizza: Gluten and Dairy Free

So, we’ve been on our gluten, dairy, soy, beef, nuts, chocolate free diet for almost a month now. Dave and I are actually really enjoying experimenting with new recipes and ingredients. However, one thing that we were afraid of missing is our Friday night favorite, pizza!

When I was pregnant, we really got into this local pizza place, JoJo’s. I was getting this awesome pizza with homemade mozzarella, fresh basil, and JoJo’s famous meatballs. Totally uncharacteristic of my typical order, which is usually strictly veggies, but I loved it. It was becoming our Friday night routine. A little splurge, but definitely worth it. And then the whole gluten, dairy, beef thing came up.

Now ordering a gluten free pizza is ridiculously expensive. I mean, just a plain cheese gluten free pizza can be nearly $20 – and that’s not even with any toppings! Not to mention the fact that I would have to go cheeseless. Ugh. What were our options at this point? Order a gluten free pizza and a dairy free pizza (which just sounds terrible) and pay an exorbitant amount for practically nothing? No, thanks.

Dave’s a researcher. Pretty analytical. Super analytical and thorough. Not that that’s a bad thing! In fact, his research paid off. Literally – we are spending less than $10 – if that! – on making our own Friday night pizzas. They are gluten free, dairy free, and best of all, they are topped with whatever we want! I have to admit, I don’t even miss our JoJo’s pizzas. These are just as good, if not better!

Dave and I use the same dough. This recipe makes 2 pizzas anyway, so it would be silly to make one gluten free and one wheat pizza. Plus, we don’t have to wait for this dough to rise, so that is an added bonus. We can whip up the dough, top our pizzas, and get them in the oven all within the hour. I have been into spinach, onion, green pepper, and tomato. Dave’s been doing a buffalo chicken and ranch pizza. Mine, of course, is dairy free. We bought one pack of Daiya dairy free mozzarella cheese when I first started on this new dairy free diet. So far, I’ve used it for making 5 pizzas plus another recipe, and there’s still a little left.

Dave found this recipe from The Pretty Bee, but we’ve modified it to fit our likes.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Pizza Crust (makes 2 pizzas)

1 cup all purpose gf flour – we use Bob’s Red Mill because it does not contain any rice flour, which Dave should also limit

1 cup (roughly 1/3 c. each) tapioca starch, potato flakes, flax seed (again, Bob’s Red Mill sells potato flakes without any added ingredients)

½ c. millet flour

½ c. buckwheat

(you can do just 1c. of either buckwheat or millet and omit the other)

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

¼ teaspoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon yeast

1½ cup warm water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the yeast and ¾ cup warm water – just warm, not hot. Let set for 5 minutes. Add the sugar after two minutes.
3. In a large bowl, combine flours, salt, garlic powder, baking powder, and Italian seasoning. Give it a quick stir with a fork to combine.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the yeast mix. Add the olive oil, honey, and the rest of the warmed water (3/4 cups) and stir to combine.
5. Cover 2 pizza pans with foil. Pour 1Tbs. olive oil in the center of each pan. Spoon the dough onto each pan, dividing the mixture evenly. Using the back of a spoon, gently spread the dough. Use a little olive oil on the back of the spoon if the crust is sticky.
6. Put the crust in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until it starts to look dry. The crust might crack a little bit. That’s okay – gluten free dough is a little different.
7. Remove crust from the oven, and top it with sauce, toppings, and cheese. Put the pizza back in the oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges of the crust are golden.
8. Let the pizza cool for several minutes. Then slice and enjoy!