Week 2: Motion

With our thoughts we make the pizza.

~ Buddha (translation approximate)

This was a super busy week, and these cornmeal pizza crusts come in packs of two, so we decided to do a cheeseless version with different veggies.

Heat oven to 425° F.
Heat frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 tbs. oil. (We used olive. Avocado would be nice too).
Chop veggies in the order you will sauté them:
Onions
Garlic (I prefer a press for smashed garlic. You can also slice super thin Goodfellas style.)
Peppers (We prefer red or orange because they are sweeter than green.)
Zucchini (I thinly sliced 1 small zucchini. I thought it would be too much for the size of our pizza, but it was perfect and I’m glad we used it all.)

We used approximately 1/4 of a medium to large size yellow onion, 2 bulbs of garlic, 1/2 of an orange pepper, and one small zucchini. This made slightly more veggies than were necessary, but it was a chance to sneak in some extra veggies and gave me 2 spoonfuls to have while the pizza was baking. We sautéd the onions for approximately 3 minutes, added the garlic for 1 minute, added the peppers, waited 2 minutes and then added the zucchini. Don’t overcook your veggies, they still have to go in the oven.

To assemble, we put the corn crust on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

We used three spoonfuls of the Whole Foods brand spicy pizza sauce, which is actually pretty spicy and added a nice kick.

I cut up about 10 Kalamata olives and sprinkled them around the pizza, then I layered on the sautéed veggies. Bake for 14 minutes at 425° F or until you smell that it’s done.

While the pizza was cooling, I cut up half of a perfectly ripe avocado and layered the pieces on top. The creaminess of the avocados was a nice complement to the spicy red sauce.

You can use any veggies you have on hand and in 30 minutes or less you have a complete meal.

Week 1: Resolution

Eat food, not too much, mostly pizza.*

— Michael Pollan
*Quote may be inexact

Behold, the first of 52 vegan pizzas!

Our first pizza is based on “My Favorite Vegan Pizza” from the Minimalist Baker, with some twists. It’s New Year’s day and I was out of sugar, so could not make our own pizza dough. Instead we used a gluten-free corn based crust from the fridge section of Whole Foods. It’s dense and flakey and tastes more like pie crust than pizza dough. We sautéed the veggies in olive oil, as suggested by the MB, but used red onion, orange peppers, and broccoli instead of the mushrooms MB suggests. To layer we used 365 brand pizza sauce, layered on our veggies, and then sprinkled on a half cup of vegan mozzarella.

Bake at 425 for 14 minutes. I used an inverted cooling rack instead of a baking sheet because I think it makes the crust taste crisper all around. Cool for 4 min then cut with scissors or a pizza roller.

This is an easy pizza to throw together on a weeknight and you can substitute any veggies you have on hand. Throw in a little dried oregano or sweet basil while sautéing the veggies or mix into the sauce for an added flavor kick.