Pizza!!

Whenever I think about pizza, I think of how good it is and how it's going to be hard for me to not eat way more than I should.  Pizza is best shared :)  But if you find yourself making dinner for one, here's a great non pizza crust crust to use (yes I meant to type crust two times!)


If you're a new vegan, you're either going to turn your nose up to cheeseless cheese or meatless meat or you're going to embrace it, like I did.  I've tried various vegan cheeses and I like pretty much all of them that are out there.  I don't buy them often because they are processed food and they don't always fit into my usually raw diet.  But when I want pizza, I want vegan cheese and perhaps a meatless meat and plenty of veggies.  My shredded cheese for pizza is Go Veggie cheese.  I think it tastes incredible (ok, I might also eat a little out of the bag every now and then!) and it's perfect for pizza.  A little goes a long way so you may not even need the entire serving.  Go Veggie cheeses have a slightly bigger serving size then other cheeses (1/3 cup as opposed to 1/4 cup) so you may not need the whole serving.  I also love Daiya cheese slices for grilled cheese and I also like Trader Joe's vegan mozzarella.  Go veggie and Daiya are sold at Whole Foods, Wegman's and any small health food stores.  I noticed that Go Veggie is picking up speed and are being sold in most places now, at least in the Philly/NYC area.  Run out and buy it and make this pizza that I'm about to give you the recipe for!

If you cannot embrace the vegan cheeses for whatever reason, no worries, brush your pizza with olive oil and load it with veggies.  It will be like crispy flatbread bruschetta.  I also have other variations below.

For this recipe, I bought whole wheat flatbread pitas and used them for the crust.  They are one serving, a decent size and they are big enough to make a pizza for two.  Using a small whole wheat crust that comes as one serving cuts down on the guessing of "how many calories did I just consume" and it also allows you to track your food/calories alot easier.  I use the Weight Watchers app on my phone and this crust is 4 points....no more, no less, I know exactly what I'm eating so I can track it.  So, get a flatbread pita that is medium in size, whole wheat, whole grain, lots of fiber per serving and with minimal ingredients in the ingredients list.  You know how some breads have literally a million ingredients?  Yeah, you don't want that. Make sure you know what all the ingredients and make sure you can pronounce them!  If you don't recognize an ingredient, your body doesn't either!

So, once you've chosen a flatbread, go buy some cheese and a ton of your favorite veggies to put on your pizza and get cooking!  Since moving to NYC, I have not used my oven because I need my landlord to show me how to light the pilot (I miss my electric oven!) so I made this pizza on the stove.  Plus, no one wants to use their oven in the summertime and even though it is not insanely hot yet, it will be so using the oven will be out of the question.

Grab a medium, round skillet and put the flatbread in that.  My flatbread is the perfect size for my favorite blue skillet.  Once you've done that, set your flatbread aside and get ready to cook your veggies.  Spray the skillet with coconut oil and throw in fresh garlic, mushrooms and anything else you want.  I cooked the fresh garlic and mushrooms first then I threw in chopped kale and a sweet red pepper.  Cook on low heat, spray the skillet with oil occasionally and cover.

Once the veggies are done (the mushrooms are tender, you can smell the garlic, the kale is very green and limp), transfer the veggies to another plate and put the flatbread in the skillet.  Turn the heat on low. Measure out one serving of shredded cheese and sprinkle on top of the flatbread.  Cover and keep the heat on low. The cheese will melt and the flatbread will start to smell like it is baking.  The bread is done when it's crispy. Transfer the flatbread to a plate, add your cooked veggies to the pizza and there you have a personal pizza!

Variations: olive oil and veggies instead of cheese and veggies, pesto sauce and veggies, tomato sauce and cheese or just tomato sauce and veggies.  You can do anything.  And your kitchen won't be steaming hot after you make this :)  Enjoy, my friends!