Making Memories with Holiday Pizza

It’s always such fun to make holiday themed foods at Christmas time but if your household is anything like mine, sometimes it’s just too hectic to be adding in more elaborate meals at this time of year. So, when my daughter was little, we started a special tradition for dinner the night we put up our tree – Christmas pizza!

We get everyone involved in the preparation and then lay it all out assembly line style. The older kids can help with the chopping of the toppings and the grating of the cheese. The adults can take care of cooking the quick and easy Alfredo sauce and the little ones can make the no cook tomato sauce and mix the flatbread dough. Then, each person gets to put their creativity into action and design their holiday pizza whatever way they wish.

You can precook the flatbreads and then cut them into holiday shapes or let the kids flatten the dough into the shapes they desire. Of course, an adult will have to help with using the stove! It’s so much fun and with every one pitching in, it’s a simple meal to put together. We always have some pretty amazing looking Christmas trees, snowmen…one year we even had a Rudolph with a pepperoni nose!  

Oh and an added bonus of this meal is that if you use lots of veggies for the toppings and flatbreads for the crust, it’s a meal on the healthier side – such a great way to balance out all those holiday treats!

Ingredients you’ll need for your holiday pizzas:

toppings of your choice cut into appropriate sizes and shapes – strips of peppers work well as garland for trees or scarves for the snowmen, cut into small bits to be Christmas ornaments, black olives work well for the snowmen’s eyes and buttons, grape tomatoes are a good size for these too but really, just use whatever toppings you prefer and be creative!

Easy No Cook Tomato Sauce (recipe below)

Easy Lightened up Alfredo Sauce (recipe below)

Cheese of your choice – go with light mozzarella for a traditional taste but low fat goat cheese is a really tasty choice too!

Flatbread for the pizza crusts – I like to use Jamie Oliver’s kid friendly recipe found here.

Easy No Cook Tomato Sauce (good for pasta or on pizza)

Ingredients:

One 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced (or use garlic powder to make it even easier)

Italian seasoning blend (to taste – I use about ½ T. You can also use fresh herbs such as oregano and basil instead)

Instructions: Pour the contents of the can of tomatoes into a large bowl. Now, here’s where it’s easy and fun for the kids – tell them to put their hands in and squeeze and squish those tomatoes up until it’s the consistency you prefer. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and it’s all ready! If you find you’re not getting it as smooth as you’d like you can always use a hand blender and drizzle in just a touch of olive oil.

Easy Lightened Up Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

2 T.  butter

2 T. flour

1 ¼ cups low fat milk

2 T. heavy cream

2 oz. fat free cream cheese, cubed

¼ cup grated Parmesan (not the powdered stuff that comes in canisters. You need the fresh kind)

¼ tsp. garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions: This recipe has been adapted from the traditional Alfredo sauce so that it’s a little lighter and healthier! Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the flour to make a roux. Gradually whisk in the milk and continue cooking until it starts to thicken. Turn the heat down a bit and stir in the heavy cream, continuing to stir until the consistency you prefer. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheeses until melted. Add in the seasonings and serve.

Do you have a family holiday recipe that everyone should try? Take the #BetterFoodForAll Challenge with Sobeys and you could win $1,000 in groceries! Or follow the #BetterFoodForAll hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for more holiday recipe inspiration from Canadians.

Disclosure – I received compensation in exchange for sharing one of my family’s favourite holiday recipes. All ideas and opinions are my own.