Ledo's pizza - Gluten free, corn free, egg free

If you live in my area of the country you probably know about Ledo's pizza.  It started with a small pizza restaurant near the University of Maryland and has now expanded to many locations in the mid Atlantic area.  It's always been my absolute favorite pizza so when I had to go gluten free I was devastated to know I could never eat another Ledo's pizza and figured I'd never be able to make a pizza that even came close.  I'd never made a pizza in my life so wasn't sure I could make any gluten free pizza least of all one that tastes like Ledo's.   I made my first pizza and it was terrible and the reason I didn't like it was because the crust was too thick and the sauce just didn't have the flavor of Ledo's. 

Then the breakthrough...much to my surprise I found out that Ledo's sells their pizza sauce in a jar at their restaurants. Yippee!!! 

So I set out to make my first "Ledo's" pizza. I used Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix for the second time and found that if I make it as thin as possible on the cookie sheet (Ledo's is a rectangular thin crust pizza so I use my cookie sheets for this) it's almost like the real thing.  You just have to keep pushing it and pushing it until it gets as thin as possible. 

I liked it so much I'm making it again tonight. Two of my "tasters" who just happened to be here for dinner said they liked it better than Ledo's.  I would never go that far but it was definitely pretty darn good. 

Just make the crust using the mix, make it as thin as possible on your cookie sheet and follow the directins for baking.  Add the sauce, cheese and whatever other topping you'd like, bake again and you're all set. 

This was one of my best dinners since I had to stop eating gluten.   Tonight I have to use the Ener-G egg mix that I bought since I found out I can no longer use eggs.  The mix calls for 2 eggs.  It feels so strange to see a box of powdered eggs.  Oh well.....welcome to my new  world.

Speaking of cheese....be sure to read all the cheese labels.  Strangely enough there are mozzarella cheeses that have wheat on the list of ingredients. 

Gluten free sweet potato fries- Safeway's contain gluten

I was just at the grocery store and wanted to pick up some sweet potato fries.  I saw the Safeway brand so picked it up and as I ALWAYS do read the ingredients.  I was thinking there might be corn of some type as an ingredient.  Much to my surprise one of the ingredients was wheat!!!  Why would you have to include wheat in a package of frozen sweet potato fries??

Speaking of corn.  I am absolutely blown away at how many products contain corn in one version or another..cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup(VERY BAD FOR YOU), corn, maltodextrin, etc.  Did you know that the first ingredient on most barbeque sauces is high fructose corn syrup.  I did find a place in Kansas City that makes corn free barbeque sauce.  I have to order a bottle to see how I like it and will let you know what I think.

I think I'm obsesseed with food since this all happened.  Not only do I love walking through grocery stores reading ingredients, I spend half my life reading recipes.  Hope this obsession ends some day.

English muffins - gluten free and delicious

As anyone who's gone gluten free knows, breads are difficult.  I've tried many and Udi's was my favorite.  Though I discovered their bread contains corn so I now can't eat that.  However, I discovered a delicious English muffin that's gluten, corn and egg free.  Food for Life.  Gluten Free Multi Seed English Muffins. 


Keep them in the freezer.  Microwave them to defrost.  Pop them in the toaster and they taste GREAT!!  I've been making chicken sandiwiches with them and actually look forward to eating them.  Even if I could still eat corn and eggs I'd buy these. 

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

My new gluten free, corn free, egg free, etc. life

I went gluten free about six months ago.  I thought that was tough but when my doctor ran the food panels and I got the results a few weeks ago I found out that not only do I have to eliminate gluten.  I have to eliminate corn, eggs, peanuts and pork.  I think this is just the result of the first Food Panel tests.  I'm supposed to be eliminating all these things to see if the situation improves but am having a very hard time of it.

Yesterday I ate mixed nuts that I very carefully checked to be sure there were no peanuts.  My face broke out in hives which are just now going away.  Guess there must have been some peanut remnants on the nuts.

In any case, I'm starting this blog to share my experiences going through this process.  I'll share what I learn, what foods I've discovered, new recipes, etc.