In the mornings, because the kids wake up at 6:00am, because of the stupid time change, and because Christian is surfing, we lounge in our PJs and read cookbooks together until it is time for Enzo to go to school. Enzo points to pictures and quickly passes judgment "delicious!" "yucky!" It's all about the pictures. So then I read him the title and he'll either say "yay" or "nay". A couple weeks ago I received the book Clean Start by Terry Walters and Enzo has judged all the recipes "delicious."
Here's the thing. All the recipes are gluten free and vegetarian. She encourages you to buy local and eat what's in season. The best part is that not only do the recipes look delicious they also seem totally doable.
So we made polenta pizza using produce from the farmer's market.
Here's the other thing, we adore meat, cheese, and wheat in this tiny family. But just because we buy a 50lb. bag of flour on a regular basis doesn't mean we can't try new things.
I've been wanting to try out more gluten free recipes. After hanging out with Luise and David I'm inspired to make healthier recipes. I'm not saying I'm going to radically change my diet and give up on funnel cakes, I'm just saying that there is so much information and recipes on gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan, diets I think it's good to step out of my deep fried comfort zone and try something new.Making polenta pizza with the kids was new.
Baby Maria tried to eat all the tomatoes before I even had a chance to get them on the pizza. I just smile. I have been a tomato aficionada since I can remember, looks like we have another tomato lover in the house. I have to say she's way cuter at eating tomatoes than I ever was.
Making polenta is easy. Bring 3 cups vegetable broth to a boil. Then turn off the stove and quickly stir 1 1/2 cups corn meal and 2 tablespoons olive oil. I also added salt, garlic, and Italian seasoning. You can add whatever kind of seasoning you like. Then spread the polenta on a tart pan or a spring form pan and bake at 350* for 30 minutes. This is really important because you want your crust to be somewhat dried out so that when you put your toppings it will hold it's form and not become polenta mush. After you bake the crust add tomato sauce and whatever kind of toppings you like. I wanted to go for something fresh and healthy, so I went for spinach, pumpkin, goat cheese, and tomatoes. Then I baked for an additional 15 minutes. I was thrilled with the end result. It was super delicious. Baby Maria ate all the tomatoes even when they were hot. Then she made her way through the rest of the pizza, topping by topping.
I've decided that polenta pizza is great for kids, specially kids who only have 7 teeth. I noticed that Baby Maria had a much easier time eating polenta crust, then flour crust. The polenta crust is soft and the corn meal just melts in your mouth. She is also a huge fan of vegetables (yeah, we'll see how long that lasts) and it's fun for her to have a colorful selection on top of her pizza. She uses her little chubby fingers to pick each topping off one by one.
Enzo on the other hand was on the crusty side because he wanted his individual polenta cheese pizza to be bigger. He loved the crust and was sad when he took his last bite. But seriously Enzo, go wipe that frown of your face! And Baby Maria...never mind...I'm just glad you're mine.
