Hawaiian Pizza Quinoa Casserole

Pizza night with a gluten-free farmer fiancé presents many challenges. There’s the obvious challenge of him being gluten-free, but with various gluten-free flours and store-bought gluten-free pizza crusts becoming more and more common, this is getting to be less of an obstacle. What I’m learning is that it’s the farming part that makes dinner… interesting. With long and oddly shaped work hours, dinner during the farming season can be anywhere between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., maybe even later, and there’s never really a way to predict when it will be. 

Often times I’ll get a ballpark so I can have enough time to start preparing dinner, but even then, something like the weather could change and I’ll be left suddenly having to keep dinner warm for over an hour. The first time this happened, dinner included overcooked eggs with a side of my frustration. 

But as I’ve become accustomed to the crazy schedule of farming season, I’ve found some meals that are better for keeping warm than others. Pizza crusts don’t do well under these conditions. Not when you like a piping hot pie with perfectly crisp crust and delightfully melty cheese. But what will keep well is if all of the best pizza toppings get folded into a big hearty quinoa casserole.

These days, my favorite kind of pizza night involves prepping this casserole and then stealing a few bites as it waits in the oven for my farmer to come in. The flavors only get better with time, and being able to feed him as soon as he comes in makes me a happy farm girl.