Inspiration
Momtastic polenta pizzasMy version had more toppings and went into the oven to cook rather than the microwave. To determine the baking time, I found a recipe that was similar and winged it (of course, I can't find that recipe now).
Ingredients
- 18 oz tube of polenta
- pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce (I used about 1/3 of a jar of spaghetti sauce, but you could probably use one of those little 8 oz cans of pizza sauce)
- toppings of your choice - we used chopped turkey pepperoni along with chopped peppers and onions.
- Shredded cheese
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I wasn't sure if they would stick if I used just cooking spray on the baking sheet, so I lined it with parchment paper. If you were making customized ones, you could draw on the parchment paper to indicate the different toppings. |
| Polenta rounds. Pay no attention to the one cut in half in the front, Sonny D decided to grab the knife and try out his cutting skills. |
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| Adding chunky spaghetti sauce. |
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| Add your favorite toppings. |
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| Top each slice with shredded cheese. |
Bake for 20 minutes.
Sonny D and I had a great time putting these together. He was up in his kitchen helper stool (we have one like this learning tower, totally recommended) and helped me spoon on the sauce, add the pepperoni and veggies, and sprinkle on the cheese. And he did a great job! He has a great attention for detail in the kitchen, he's careful and steady, and doesn't make a mess.
I wish we had more toppings in the house, but it was the day before grocery shopping so we were out of a lot of things. I would have used mushrooms and black olives if we had them. That's one advantage, you can customize it to each person's preferences.
I only had a couple things I would change for next time. I would want to cut the toppings a little finer since sometimes you could eat all of your toppings in one bite and then your mouth would be sad for the rest of it. It would also be nice to pre-cook the polenta for about 10-15 minutes without any toppings to let it dry out a little a little more and then add the toppings and put it back in the oven, but that would have been difficult to let my toddler help since they would be super-hot. But they were still great even if you follow exactly what I did.
We ate them with a fork, but when Sonny D had his as leftovers the next day, he was able to pick it up and eat it. Husband Jeff suggested heating up the leftovers in the toaster oven for additional firmness, which was a good move.
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| Hot and fresh out of the oven. |
Verdict
Adorable super-mini personal pizzas; take that, Pizza Hut! (Do they still have those personal pizzas?)Sonny D and I had a great time putting these together. He was up in his kitchen helper stool (we have one like this learning tower, totally recommended) and helped me spoon on the sauce, add the pepperoni and veggies, and sprinkle on the cheese. And he did a great job! He has a great attention for detail in the kitchen, he's careful and steady, and doesn't make a mess.
I wish we had more toppings in the house, but it was the day before grocery shopping so we were out of a lot of things. I would have used mushrooms and black olives if we had them. That's one advantage, you can customize it to each person's preferences.
I only had a couple things I would change for next time. I would want to cut the toppings a little finer since sometimes you could eat all of your toppings in one bite and then your mouth would be sad for the rest of it. It would also be nice to pre-cook the polenta for about 10-15 minutes without any toppings to let it dry out a little a little more and then add the toppings and put it back in the oven, but that would have been difficult to let my toddler help since they would be super-hot. But they were still great even if you follow exactly what I did.
We ate them with a fork, but when Sonny D had his as leftovers the next day, he was able to pick it up and eat it. Husband Jeff suggested heating up the leftovers in the toaster oven for additional firmness, which was a good move.