Last month when I was home visiting my family, we had a grain free pizza party!  My family all loves to cook and I feel like most of our memories revolve around our kitchen or patio table—a way of gathering and celebrating life that I hold very dear.  It was the first week in a long time that my family was all together, just to relax and be with each other, so naturally we cooked alot! We had an epic father’s day feast, fudgy chocolate marble cake, lemon tart from my summer ebook A Backyard Summer and then a little something I have been eagerly waiting to share with you all—thick crust individual sized grain and gluten free pizzas!

Pizza—that magical comfort food that everyone enjoys.  You can top it with pesto or red sauce, meats or vegetables, melted mozzarella or tart goat cheese crumbles, and you can even put an egg on it creating the most simplistic or complex of flavors.  Pizza brings back memories for me, and is always the food I miss the most after deciding to eat entirely grain free, not crispy flatbread or thin crust pizza, but chewy, thick crust pizza!  I have played around with so many grain free pizza crusts but finally decided that my grain free fluffy white rolls make the perfect base for a flour less pizza crust—yes, they are small, but I think that allows each person to create their own pizza, getting involved in the kitchen and having fun cooking a healthy meal together.

This meal brings people together, gathering around the table to a food that is familiar, to a food that comforts.

To me, eating healthy and adapting a grain free diet, is not about focusing on what I cannot eat, but rather recreating the foods I enjoy using the ingredients that I can eat. (Read more about recreating your favorite foods with grain free ingredients in my post here).  So head to your kitchen to make the most fabulous thick crusted pizza! It is grain and gluten free and will leave your heart and stomach happy and satisfied.  This is a great meal to serve as an appetizer or with a simple salad as a main course—a flour less, grain and gluten free pizza recipe that everyone can and will enjoy.  Bake the crusts and then let each person sauce, sprinkle and decorate their pizzas with all their favorite flavors!

Grain Free, Thick Crust Personal Pizzas

A grain free and paleo pizza crust recipe that is simple to make, healthy and delicious.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 recipes grain free white rolls* (I recommend this cashew butter)
• 1 can pizza sauce
• 1 jar pesto or homemade pesto
• 12 oz mozzarella cheese, grated
• natural pepperoni or salami (Applegate Brand), preservative and nitrate free is best
• 1 small jar kalamata olives
• fresh basil, thinly sliced
• {sprinkle with dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste}

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Make the grain free rolls.  I recommend doubling the recipe.  Bake rolls, allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then use a bread knife to carefully slice in half.
• Place halved rolls back onto baking sheets.
• Spread a thin layer of sauce onto rolls, making half with red pizza sauce and half with green pesto sauce.
• Add pepperonis and a few olives to each pizza, then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese begins to turn golden brown.
• Garnish with fresh basil.  Serve and enjoy!

This & That

• I recommend making 2 recipes of the grain free rolls, however if you are serving this for 1-2 people or as an appetizer, one recipe may do.
• The pizzas are small and about 3 bites worth due to the size of the crusts, but are chewy, thick and delicious!