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...
