Omni Question #448484756 that I'm SO TIRED of answering...
"But how can you stand it? I could NEVER go vegan. I'd miss PIZZA way too much."
Yay! Vegan pizza. The stuff rocks! And we're a pizza-loving family, I have to tell you.
OK, so I usually make crust with my sourdough starter, but when I don't have an entire Sunday to devote to pizza-crust baking... I admit, I cheat.
Well, it's not "cheating" so much as a GREAT short-cut!
This crust is from my locally-owned "take and bake" joint. They'll sell me a plain, untopped one of their (vegan) "take-and-bake" crusts, unbaked of course, for just over a buck.
Way cheaper and much faster than I can make myself. And it's right on the way home, so I grab a "real" pizza for the cheese-heads (my kids) and plain crust for myself. Then while their pizza bakes, I'll concoct my own amazing vegan gourmet pizza - "plain" crust it is no longer!
Tonight I layered sundried tomatoes, fresh spinach, fresh sliced tomatoes. Then sprinkled on some of the amazing and quite realistic "Tofu Feta" that I tested for Melody over at MELOMEALS.
After that, some pumpkin seeds in keeping with fall, harvest and because I thought they sounded tasty. Last I topped it all with "cheese" sauce and baked it about 12 minutes.
Who says vegan food has to take a long time?
Who says you have to give up GOOD pizza?
I'm continually perfecting the "ultimate" vegan chees-y sauce. This combination was very quick and easy, AND quite good, set up nice and creamy on the pizza yet didn't dry out or get weird.
But I realize not everyone has umeboshi vinegar or jarred pimentos in their cupboard so it may not be as "quick and easy" for you....
1/4 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups soy milk
2 ounces pimientos (half of a 4 oz. jar)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
2 teaspoons Umeboshi plum vinegar
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
Rinse cashews with hot water while combining the remaining ingredients (except chiles) in a blender.
Add cashews to blender and process on high for 1-2 minutes.
Cook in a sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Drizzle over pizza and bake, or keep in fridge for when you need something "cheesy".
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I'll close with a picture of late-night visitors to our back porch (with the embarrassingly filthy window as you can tell...).These (there's usually three!) guys are always hoping the cats have left a few crumbs of catfood, but the cats know better!
So off they go to try and pry open the raccoon-proof garbage can lids...
11 comments:
I have everything I need to make your polenta with sage pesto for dinner tonight. I'll have to let you know how it turns out.
It's been a long time since I've tried to make fake cheeze. I thought it was awful, but sometime I'm tempted to try again.
That looks delicious! I *love* pizza so I'm going to have to try this! ;)
I think my husband ( a vegetarian)would have been so much happier with you! Today he told me , he even smelled my repetetive vegetarian rice at work.
Now back to business, the pizza looks excellent. I will give it a try. Thank you for being so great
Oh. My. God. I need to make this exact pizza ASAP. I think the "cheeze" sauce did it for me. I hate when people ask me how I can possibly enjoy pizza. HATE.
lilipoot, not to fear, it sometimes takes a while to figure out the secrets to all those strangely named vegetarian ingredients. I'm over forty and been cooking basically all my life - vegan for four years... and JUST NOW really "getting" some of these recipes and tasty combinations figured out.
I just keep experimenting with new things... and blogging the successes and not telling anyone about the bad ones! heh!
every omnivore who thinks that vegans can't have good pizza should look at this post - kudos to you for always making such incredibly delicious pizzas (and ALL food, for that matter!!)
yikes, that raccoon is quite large!! I've never seen them that big, haha.
i have sourdough starter in the fridge, give up your dough recipe!
xo
kittee
the pizza looks truly amazing!
This pizza is one of the best-looking homemade vegan pizzas I've seen yet! I'm going to have to try this recipe. I love pizza just as much as the next guy. Heck, I'll eat pizza without ANY cheese substitute. My favourite part was always the dough and the sauce.
I'm a little scared of racoons, though. Does that make me crazy? haha
I have a question about the vegan cheese sauce. How important is it to use umeboshi vinegar?
I don't have any but could I substitute another type of vinegar? I have rice, balsamic, pomegrante, red wine, white and apple cider vinegars. Suggestions?
Looks awesome! I love vegan pizza!
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