Pizza Night!

After a little more than a week of the Feingold Diet, things are looking good. Some things I’ve noticed:

• My skin is clear again. Paleo and Feingold have this in common: no artificial crap, and to that I’m attributing this complexion. I’ve gone back to using pure olive oil soap to wash my face and virgin coconut oil to moisturize. 1 week = clear, vibrant skin.
• Eli is much calmer. He has his moments still, and there was one hell of a meltdown, but overall, so much better. Will write in more detail later.
• I feel more focused, less anxious, less randomly irate.
• Brian’s heartburn is gone.

Stage 1 of Feingold excludes natural foods high in salicylates as well as all artificial colors, flavors, fragrance and preservatives. As stated on this website, “Salicylates are chemicals that occur naturally in many plants – they’re a kind of natural pesticide – to protect the plants against insects and diseases”. One very interesting factoid from that same page:

Research shows that about 20% of adults with asthma¹, 60% with of people with food-induced itchy rashes, headaches or migraines, 70% of people with irritable bowel symptoms² and 75% of children with behaviour problems³ may be sensitive to salicylates.

That is exactly what we are trying to sort out with our kids, and with ourselves. It stands to reason that if one or more of our children is sensitive to salicylates, Brian or I may also be sensitive.

Anyway, I don’t know what things are like in your neck of the woods, but Fridays around here are Pizza Night. I make it from scratch every week and it is super yum. However, tomatoes are a no-no in Stage 1, so I was a bit nervous about how we would be able to still make this happen. Luckily, my handy dandy Feingold packet has some recipes, one of which is an “Un-Tomato Sauce”.  Color me both skeptical and very skeptical. It’s made from beets and carrots. I’d never had a beet before tonight, but I had not heard positive things.

I’m happy to report that my concerns were unfounded. The kids loved it, Brian loved it – even I loved it, mostly! I’m going to share my little concoction here – I used the Un-Tomato Sauce recipe (with fresh, instead of canned, ingredients and slight modifications) as a base for my usual pizza sauce, which I found online at some point pre-Feingold. It’s a sweet sauce, just the way I like it, so keep that in mind.

Un-Tomato Sauce (slightly modified from Feingold Association recipe)

• 3 large beets, peeled and chunked
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chunked
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp white sugar

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, allowing to simmer until veggies are very soft.  Add more water as needed. Mash it up by hand as it cooks. Continue simmering until sauce begins to thicken (took about an hour). Let cool slightly, then puree. I had to do mine in 2 batches in the food processor. I put the first pureed batch into a large bowl, then started the second batch. To the large bowl I added my additional pizza sauce ingredients.

Pizza Sauce (slightly modified from brew.cook.pair.joy)

• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (throw these into the food processor with the rest of the Un-Tomato Sauce to get crushed)
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

After batch 2 of the sauce is done blending, add it to the bowl and stir well. Pop it in the refrigerator until you need it.

Full disclosure: it’s kind of an electric fuschia color, which is a bit off-putting, though the kids didn’t seem to mind in the least. The sausage pizza was better than the cheese, also. I think the sausage kind of helped hide the fact that it wasn’t standard pizza sauce. With just cheese on top, the texture is just different enough to be kind of…weird.

And just to round things out, I’ll share my go-to pizza crust. I found it on allrecipes.com and it’s a keeper. Fast and easy!

Pizza Crust

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and oil. I like to use my hands for this.
3. Add the flour mixture to the yeast and mix well. I use my hands for this also. Really work it together, squeeze it between your fingers, knead slightly. It should become smooth within a couple of minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker’s peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

And that’s it! It probably seems like a lot of work, but it’s really not. And it’s so worth the results! Yum yum.

I’m happy to observe after 1 week that things are improving, slowly but surely, and we haven’t had to sacrifice. We can still eat “junk food” – just has to be the right kind. Honestly, I’ve just kept some processed food in the pantry so the kids don’t feel like this is some weird thing, Paleo 2.0 or worse. We haven’t changed what we’re eating drastically, and we’re still eating delish food. Win win, chicken din!