By: Jessica Azar
As I have discussed before, eating a gluten-free diet greatly helps my Bipolar symptoms, so I do my best to stick to it... But it can be limiting at times. I miss bread... I miss good pasta... I miss PIZZA! In an attempt to add variety to my meals and break up the monotony of grilled chicken, veggies and almond butter "rut", I've decided to start trying out some convenience gluten-free foods. I know that I am always slightly apprehensive when I buy a new gluten-free product, because I have had some hideous experiences before, and also because special diet foods are expensive!!! I don't want to waste money on things that are going to taste awful... And while there are lots of reviews out there for Gluten Free foods, I've found that the most helpful ones come from blogs written by people in the trenches of time constraints that crave the comfort foods they can no longer have... So I'm going to review gluten-free foods as I buy and try them here on my blog! I hope they will be helpful to others in my boat, and also serve as a reminder for me of which foods I have actually already tried.... My brain is overloaded these days!
In the grocery store yesterday, I was craving pizza...so I started browsing through the frozen, gluten free pizzas available. I saw this Udi's GF Three Cheese Pizza, and decided it would be the one. While I usually want pizza with more toppings than just cheese, this one just looked especially tasty to me. It cost $5.99 in my Publix grocery store, which I feel like it a little high, compared to regular frozen meals, but I know to expect GF to be a bit pricier. Doesn't mean. I like it.... Food sensitivities are expensive!
Bought it, brought it home and put it in the oven for the prescribed 12minutes at 400 degrees. It quickly began to fill the kitchen with a yummy pizza aroma, that smelled just like a normal cheesy pizza. Special diet foods that smell different from the traditional foods they're imitating usually taste strange... At least in my experiences... So I was very excited about the great smell. It gets the appetite going too!
When I removed it from the oven, the cheese was beautifully melted, the edges and bottom were crisp (but not burnt) and the aroma of the pizza sauce made me want to dive head first into it. This is a thin crust-style pizza, but most GF pizzas seem to be. The crust had a good flavor, and was still moist when I cut into it... Not dried out. I sliced it up and started gobbling... With the intention of saving half of it for later. That didn't happen.. I ate the whole thing! The sauce had a great flavor... Very tomatoey.. And a slight hint of sweetness. I'm not a fan of sweet pizza/marinara sauces... I refuse to put sugar in mine when I make it from scratch... But this combination with the basil in it was perfect.
My daughter came in the kitchen wanting a bite, and even though this was my super special pizza, which she knows, I let her try some. She LOVED it, and wanted more! I told her no, and she wasn't happy, but she knows I can't have all of the goodies she can have, so she let it go. This little girl loves pizza, so you know that if she liked it, I'm betting your pizza-loving kids would too... Especially if they have a gluten allergy and don't get pizza often.
Overall, I would rate this pizza a 9 out of 10... With 10 being the best pizza imaginable. I will definitely buy it again, and look forward to sampling more Udi's products!!!
***This post was not sponsored by Udi's. I received no compensation or free product for writing it***
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