Pizza Night!

Thai Chickun Pizza from Let Them Eat Vegan has been on our weekly menu for a while, but somehow it's never made its way from the menu to the table. Last night, it finally made the leap. It's been a couple years since we've made this pizza, but we both remember it being delicious and love peanut sauces. It turned out just as good as we remembered and it was a big hit with Will. He carefully ate the toppings off his piece, scooped the peanut sauce one finger-full at a time and ate every crumb of the crust. Poor Schatzi didn't get a drop from Will's plate! We definitely won't be waiting years to make this pizza again!

Garbage Pizza... a la Trader Joe's

I made an impromptu trip to Trader Joe's yesterday and decided it was a good day for homemade pizza.  I usually make my own crusts, but in the interest of time decided to try Trader Joe's whole wheat yeast crust.  Other toppings that filled my cart... and later our pizza?  Pizza sauce, BBQ chicken-less chicken, marinated red and yellow bell peppers, Kalamata olives, organic grape tomatoes, spinach, navy beans and (because we really wanted to try it) Trader Joe's new vegan mozzarella shreds.  I stretched the crust, spread a thin layer of sauce and piled the toppings high!  15 minutes later, this came out of the oven...

 

 

 

 

Spinach & Garlic Pinwheels

Chad and I made pizza earlier in the week and my mind has been spinning with ideas for the other half of dough since.  This thought popped into my head the other day and I hoped it would be as delicious as I envisioned... Today, I finally turned it into more than just a ball of pizza dough.  It's so easy, you should try it too!

Spinach & Garlic Pinwheels

1 pound pizza dough (I used this recipe) 

1/4 c olive oil

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

3-4 c fresh spinach, chopped

1.  Heat oil and garlic over low heat for 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375.

2.  While the oil is heating, roll out pizza dough into a long, skinny rectangle, about 8 X 14.

3.  Toss garlic oil and spinach in a medium bowl.  Spread evenly atop the dough, leaving 1" clear along one long side of the rectangle.

4.  Carefully roll the dough into a log shape.  Place seam down on a cookie sheet (you may have to place it diagonally).  Pinch the ends to seal.  Brush with olive oil.  Using a sharp bread knife, make 4 slices along the top.

5.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.  Slice into 2" pieces and serve!

We served them alongside a big ol' salad, which was pretty enough for its own picture.  I topped romaine and spinach with sprouts and tempeh "chicken" salad.  Yum... it made for a fairly light and very satisfying meal!

Cook Book Challenge Week #5

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Everyday Vegan Recipes Worth Celebrating

Last Night's Menu: Thai Chick-Un Pizza

Week five already?  I though this challenge would be a lot of work, but it's turning out to be pretty fun.  The only thing that's been a little difficult is that I don't own all of the cookbooks, but with the help of my friendly, local library... problem solved!  This week is another book that I hadn't really looked at before.  There are a ton of things I'd like to try, so it's looking like a promising week.

no cheese to miss her

To start the week, we made Thai Chick-Un Pizza.  Chad was pretty excited about this and I was also looking forward to trying it, because we both liked the Brooklyn Pad Thai last week.  It took me quite a while to (at least an hour) prep the ingredients, because there's a lot of rinsing, chopping and blending to do.  The peanut sauce has all kinds of goodies mixed in and the pizza is loaded with toppings.  I followed this recipe pretty exactly and it turned out great.  The peanut sauce was really rich and flavorful.  I loved the sweetness from the pineapple, and I'm also realizing I love the crunch and taste of bean sprouts.  Finally, the cilantro and green onions added another layer of flavor.  This was definitely the pizza we were both hoping for!  It was so filling, that there are leftovers (which Chad claimed again) for lunch.

Also, I thought I'd include the recipe for the pizza crust.  It's something my mom came up with years ago.  She mixed and matched a bunch of recipes until she came up with this.  It's really quick and if you're making a simple pizza, you can usually have in on the table in thirty minutes. 

Stir and Roll Pizza 

2 c flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour yesterday)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2/3 c non-dairy milk (I used rice)

1/4 c oil 

1.  Heat oven to 425.  Measure all ingredients and stir until well-combined.

2.  Gather dough together and press into a ball.  Knead 10 times on counter.

3.  Spread some flour on the counter and roll crust into desired shape.  (Fits large pizza pan or cookie sheet)

4.  Bake 5 minutes.

5.  Top with desire toppings.

6.  Bake additional 10-15 minutes.

Vegan Pizza Day!

Chad and I celebrated Vegan Pizza Day with a BBQ "Chicken" Pizza for lunch. 

Here's how today's pizza came together:

Basic Pizza Dough recipe
Trader Joe's Chicken-less Pulled Chicken in BBQ Sauce
Daiya Vegan Mozzarella
Veggies: Spinach, Chopped Carrots, Diced Red Pepper, Sliced Red Onion
Extra BBQ
Pepper

1. Prepare pizza dough per instructions. 
2. Preheat over to 350. Using half the dough, roll and stretch to fit desired pizza pan.  Bake 10 minutes. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining dough)
3. Remove from oven.  Cover with a thin layer of BBQ.  Cover evenly with spinach.  Add "chicken."  Sprinkle with veggies and mozzarella.  Season with black pepper.
4.  Bake 15-20 minutes until crust is browned and cheese is melted.
5.  Slice, admire and enjoy!