Dietary Specials (DS) Pepperoni Pizza

Today I am reviewing one of my favourite foods: pepperoni pizza.  This one is from Dietary Specials (another fairly popular gluten-free brand).

I used to eat pizza a lot. A LOT. I'd think nothing of eating a large Domino's pizza all to myself (it seems that, for now, a gluten-free Domino's pizza remains a pipe dream: see this post from The Gluten Free Student Cookbook).  But now I'm trying to eat a bit healthier, pizza is an occasional treat.  I've had this pizza before and enjoyed it!

This was the pizza before I cooked it. The pizza isn't particularly large, and it also has a thin crust. Every time I've bought this pizza, there's exactly 7 small slices of pepperoni on the top. There also looks like there's a small amount of cheese on the top.

Despite not being the largest frozen pizza, it does taste good. The cheese on the top expands a lot when it cooks. The tomato sauce was well seasoned and had flavour. And the pizza dough itself... was really good! It didn't go soggy in the middle, and the crust was nice and crispy.

Really, my only problems with the pizza are it's size and the topping. For the price of the pizza, you'd expect a little more than a handful of small pepperoni slices, and perhaps a bit of a larger base.

Taste: I can't really fault the taste. The cheese is soft and there is a decent amount on the pizza. The base was soft in the middle and had a crunchy crust.

Price: £2.86 from Asda. Fairly expensive for the price of one small pizza.

Availability: I bought this pizza from Asda, but it doesn't seem to be at many of the other large supermarkets. According to the website, it's also available from Booths, Waitrose and Goodness Foods.

Clearly labelled gluten-free? Yes, "Gluten Free" and "Wheat Free" on the front of the box.

Nutritional value: ...It's a pizza! It's about 700 calories for one entire pizza, and it's high in saturated fat. An occasional treat.

Comparison to the real thing: I can't fault the flavour and the taste of the dough compared to other frozen pizzas.

Overall rating: 7/10
Definitely one of the better quality frozen gluten-free pizzas in the supermarkets. I enjoy these pizzas, and they're something quick and easy to quick. The size of the pizza compared to the price does put me off a little, but if it's not something you buy regularly, then I definitely recommend it!

Tesco Free From Lasagne sheets

I may not be able to go to a restaurant and order a lasagne any more, but it's just given me an excuse to improve my culinary skills! And for the first time earlier this year I attempted making my very own using Tesco's lasagne sheets.

I got a recipe from a student cookbook, and it was a very basic recipe, making a simple cheese sauce and a bolognese with mince. The instructions on the packet said to blanch the sheets first in some boiling water for a few minutes, and then I layered them with the sauce, mince and cheese... and voilà! I put it in the oven and after an hour it came out like this (sorry you can't see the inside, it fell apart when I dished it up!)...

It tasted really good. I was so pleased with the results, and happy that it was so easy to make. But enough about my cooking ability, what about the lasagne sheets? As I've never made a lasagne from scratch myself, I'll be honest and confess that I don't really know if cooking with them is the same as cooking with regular sheets. I had to break them up to fit into the dish I used, but that was easy enough after the blanching.

I am also happy to report that after cooking it tasted the same as a regular lasagne!


Taste: Really good pasta sheets. Thickness, texture, and they were really soft and tasty in the lasagne. The second time I cooked the sheets they needed a little less time in the oven, so they didn't go too crispy round the edges.

Price: £1.50 for a packet of about 12 sheets. (I used about 4 sheets for a 2-person lasagne).

Availability: From Tesco.

Clearly labelled gluten-free? Labels on the front of the packaging, "Wheat free" "Gluten free" and "Milk free"

Nutritional value: As nutritional as you'd expect from pasta! Not as many calories as I'd expect from pasta sheets.

Comparison to the real thing: If I blind-tasted these I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference! Nice and easy to cook with, and I really enjoyed them with the recipe I used.

Overall rating: 8/10
So similar to regular lasagne sheets in terms of taste and texture, and would go well with any lasagne recipe. The sheets are a little small but really easy to cook with, and I've been using them fairly frequently ever since I tried them... so there's a little seal of approval right there!