Mmmmmm..... Pizza! Recent cravings, an increased use of my loved and hated dehydrtaor, and the purchase of brand spankin' new mini springform pans helped launch the following recipe makings. As I type this post, I fondly recall family memories of Christmad Eve, which involved homemade pizza making with "Grandma Bell" (my mother's mother). We engaged in the popular Italian tradition of fish on Christmas Eve but excluding my mother's fried flounder, fish wasn't really my schick. Pizza on the other hand was and every year on Christmas Eve night several pies were made for the kids. Sadly, the pizza making tradition died out with the passing of Grandma Bell. As I adamantly transitioned to a vegetarian diet, a new Christmas Eve tradition of ordering from our local Gino's was started.
Back in the day I was a regular pizza eater, often opting for sicilian. As I grew older, I developed a love for thin crust veggie slices. My weekly pizza habit have little to no impact on my physical appearance but eating said slices definately impacted how I felt. This rekindled a personal tradition of making my own pizza's and my switch to a vegan diet futher propelled my pizza making skills as good vegan pizza is hard to come by (but not impossible!! I highly recommend 3 Brothers on Long Beach Road, Rockville Centre, NY. They have an extensive vegan menu, all of which is delicious).
During a recent trip to 'mart, I picked up a new set of mini springform pans as mine were nowhere to be found. (Hmmmm... interesting how MY stuff, and only my stuff, regularly goes missings with none of my house mates having any idea as to what may have happened. Yet another illustration of my personal life mirroring work). My love for all things mini had me day dreaming about all the adorable yummies I'd be whipping up in my new pans (with said new pans being carefully returned to my room immediately after each and every use so that they doesnt get lost without a trace). Within a few days of my purchase I succesfully made my first ever vegan white pizza!! In a word: YUM :-)
Back in the day I was a regular pizza eater, often opting for sicilian. As I grew older, I developed a love for thin crust veggie slices. My weekly pizza habit have little to no impact on my physical appearance but eating said slices definately impacted how I felt. This rekindled a personal tradition of making my own pizza's and my switch to a vegan diet futher propelled my pizza making skills as good vegan pizza is hard to come by (but not impossible!! I highly recommend 3 Brothers on Long Beach Road, Rockville Centre, NY. They have an extensive vegan menu, all of which is delicious).
During a recent trip to 'mart, I picked up a new set of mini springform pans as mine were nowhere to be found. (Hmmmm... interesting how MY stuff, and only my stuff, regularly goes missings with none of my house mates having any idea as to what may have happened. Yet another illustration of my personal life mirroring work). My love for all things mini had me day dreaming about all the adorable yummies I'd be whipping up in my new pans (with said new pans being carefully returned to my room immediately after each and every use so that they doesnt get lost without a trace). Within a few days of my purchase I succesfully made my first ever vegan white pizza!! In a word: YUM :-)
I made a garlic and herb gluten free pizza dough (using Namaste Pizza Crust flour), which I divided into four chunks and rolled as thin as possible. After liberally spraying down each mini springform, I drapped one rolled out dough chunk per pan. The dough should cover 3/4 of the side of the pan.
For the "cheese", I turned to a tried and true recipe from Veganomicon: Tofu Ricotta Cheese. I am by no means a tofu fan but this is one of the rare instances in which I actually enjoy it. I generally use Tofu Ricotta when I want a lighter, nut free homemade cheese alternative.
1 lb extra-firm tofu
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp salt
ground black pepper
!0 fresh basil leaves, chopped finely
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup Nutritional
In a large bowl, crumble tofu with hands. Add lemon,, garlic, salt, black pepper, and basil. Mix again with hands until you reach the consistency of ricotta cheese (approximately 2 - 5 minutes). Add olive oil and stir with fork. Add nutritional yeast and mix again with fork until well combined. Refridgerate until ready to use.
Tofu Ricotta Nutritional Breakdown per serving; when broken down into 4 large servings: Calories 161, Fat 9.4g, Saturated Fat 1.0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 163mg, Total Carbohydrates 7.4g, Dietary Fiber 3.0g, Sugars 0.6g, Protein 15.9g.
For the broccoli: I chose to water saute my chopped florettes with some onion and garlic. I then mixed the broccoli with the tofu ricotta before spooning into my 4 mini sprinform pans.
For the "cheese", I turned to a tried and true recipe from Veganomicon: Tofu Ricotta Cheese. I am by no means a tofu fan but this is one of the rare instances in which I actually enjoy it. I generally use Tofu Ricotta when I want a lighter, nut free homemade cheese alternative.
1 lb extra-firm tofu
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp salt
ground black pepper
!0 fresh basil leaves, chopped finely
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup Nutritional
In a large bowl, crumble tofu with hands. Add lemon,, garlic, salt, black pepper, and basil. Mix again with hands until you reach the consistency of ricotta cheese (approximately 2 - 5 minutes). Add olive oil and stir with fork. Add nutritional yeast and mix again with fork until well combined. Refridgerate until ready to use.
Tofu Ricotta Nutritional Breakdown per serving; when broken down into 4 large servings: Calories 161, Fat 9.4g, Saturated Fat 1.0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 163mg, Total Carbohydrates 7.4g, Dietary Fiber 3.0g, Sugars 0.6g, Protein 15.9g.
For the broccoli: I chose to water saute my chopped florettes with some onion and garlic. I then mixed the broccoli with the tofu ricotta before spooning into my 4 mini sprinform pans.
Still on a pizza kick, I decided to bust out my dehydrator once again and whip up a batch of chips, but not just any kind of chips. Today, I was ready to rock out with some Pizza Party Kale Chips.
Kale chips in general are one of my favorite snacks and I dont mind making them via my dehydrator, as the prep is easy and the wait time, bearable. A recent trip to Trader Joe's yielded three bags of Kale (washed, cleaned, and ready to eat), two of which were purchased with the sole purpose of using for kale chips. If you google Kale chip recipes, 1,940,000 results will come up. Nutritious and generally low fat, this popular snack can be made in a variety of flavors and ways, including: spicy, sweet, sour, salty, baked, roasted, dehydrated and fried (although I don't recommend the last one!!)
Kale, washed and de-stemmed
1 cup raw cashews, soaked*
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked*
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
Fresh Oregano, optional
Fresh Basil, optional
Himmalayan Salt, optional, to taste
Fresh Ground Pepper, optional to taste
Soak cashews for several hours (mine soaked for about 5 hours). Soak sun dried tomatoes until soft (mine took 20 minutes). Wash and de-stem kale. (For this batch I used one bag of Trader Joe's Kale). Place in large bowl. Set aside.
Drain sun-dried tomatoes and place them in a food processor or blender, along with (drained and rinsed) cashews, lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, any herbs and spices you are using. Pour mixture onto kale and mix until well coated (for best results, use your hands!). Line dehydrator trays with mesh liner and closely lay coated kale leaves on mesh liner (touching but not overlapping). Dehydrate at 115 for about 6 - 8 hours (flipping leaves once if possible. I did not flip these as I set the timer on my machine and went to bed).
No dehydrator? No problem! -
Make baked kale chips in your oven instead!! Place kale on lightly olive oil sprayed baking sheet and bake 300F until edges are brown and crisp (approx 20 min but keep a close eye on your kale as you don't want it to burn. Burnt kale is horrific!!). Once desired crispness is reached, dig in! (If you baked allow chips to cool to avoid mouth burns. Mouth burns are no fun). Store remaining chips (Remaining?! Ha! Good luck with that) in airtight container until your ready for your next feeding ;-)
Enjoy!
Kale chips in general are one of my favorite snacks and I dont mind making them via my dehydrator, as the prep is easy and the wait time, bearable. A recent trip to Trader Joe's yielded three bags of Kale (washed, cleaned, and ready to eat), two of which were purchased with the sole purpose of using for kale chips. If you google Kale chip recipes, 1,940,000 results will come up. Nutritious and generally low fat, this popular snack can be made in a variety of flavors and ways, including: spicy, sweet, sour, salty, baked, roasted, dehydrated and fried (although I don't recommend the last one!!)
Kale, washed and de-stemmed
1 cup raw cashews, soaked*
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked*
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
Fresh Oregano, optional
Fresh Basil, optional
Himmalayan Salt, optional, to taste
Fresh Ground Pepper, optional to taste
Soak cashews for several hours (mine soaked for about 5 hours). Soak sun dried tomatoes until soft (mine took 20 minutes). Wash and de-stem kale. (For this batch I used one bag of Trader Joe's Kale). Place in large bowl. Set aside.
Drain sun-dried tomatoes and place them in a food processor or blender, along with (drained and rinsed) cashews, lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, any herbs and spices you are using. Pour mixture onto kale and mix until well coated (for best results, use your hands!). Line dehydrator trays with mesh liner and closely lay coated kale leaves on mesh liner (touching but not overlapping). Dehydrate at 115 for about 6 - 8 hours (flipping leaves once if possible. I did not flip these as I set the timer on my machine and went to bed).
No dehydrator? No problem! -
Make baked kale chips in your oven instead!! Place kale on lightly olive oil sprayed baking sheet and bake 300F until edges are brown and crisp (approx 20 min but keep a close eye on your kale as you don't want it to burn. Burnt kale is horrific!!). Once desired crispness is reached, dig in! (If you baked allow chips to cool to avoid mouth burns. Mouth burns are no fun). Store remaining chips (Remaining?! Ha! Good luck with that) in airtight container until your ready for your next feeding ;-)
Enjoy!
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