Pantry Pizza Night

Friends of ours got married this last weekend, and my mom came into town to watch Tommy. It was a very fun but very busy weekend. I haven't gone to the grocery store in a few days and our fridge is looking pretty empty. 

Last night I made my fish tacos and I had some leftover mango salsa. I didn't have any red bell peppers yesterday, so the mango salsa was just mangoes, yellow onion, green onions and lime juice. And we still had some leftover pork from the pork pot roast. So tonight we had pantry pizza. 

I made a pizza sauce from items I had in the pantry and topped it with pork, mango salsa, vegan mozzarella, and olives. It's my take on a Hawaiian Pizza. 

The vegan mozzarella wasn't all that bad. This is the first time I've used this cheese substitute and it was easy to shred. It sort of melted too. And it's the only cheese type food I've found that doesn't contain something Tommy's allergic to.

It was delicious, pretty quick, and best of all I didn't have to go to the store. I think this is our best pizza yet.

Pantry Pizza Sauce

6 oz can tomato paste
6 oz water
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry minced onions
1 tsp dry minced garlic
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried basil

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. This made enough to for two pizzas.

First Family Pizza Night (Avocado Arugula Pesto)

Tommy doesn't care much for the texture of avocados. But they’re so good for you and he’s not allergic to them. So I thought instead of giving him diced avocado, I would try and make a sort of avocado pesto. I’m using the term pesto pretty lightly since it doesn't actually contain any basil, nuts or cheese.

I made the Vegan Pizza Crust from The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide Part 1 by Brittany Angell and Iris Higgins. It uses millet flour and potato starch. I doubled the recipe and made two pizzas. One was a typical pizza with ground turkey, onions and red bell peppers. The second pizza I topped with my Avocado Arugula Pesto, ground turkey, onions and red bell peppers.

The typical pizza with tomato sauce was a big hit. And the pizza crust was delicious. It had a nice sort of corn flavor from the millet flour and it was easy to assemble.

The Avocado Arugula Pesto pizza was interesting. I liked it a lot more than Ben and Tommy did. It did have a nice bright flavor and the green color survived the baking. Give it a try if you love arugula and avocado and are looking for a little more of an adventurous pizza. I think the pesto would be great as a sandwich spread too.

Avocado Arugula Pesto

1 ripe avocado

2 cups arugula

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

½ tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.