Tag: pizza

Vegan Cauliflower Pizza Crust

vegan
Vegan gluten free cauliflower pizza crust

Vegan Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I can’t believe how long it has been since a lasted updated my blog.   I guess life just got in the way, but I’m ready to start again. So much has happened in the last few years. Lots of happiness and sadness.  But now it is time to make time for the things I love to do.  I certainly haven’t stopped cooking but I really have missed my blog.

Since my last post my son has been diagnosed with a gluten allergy. He had a lot of crazy symptoms that I never would have thought were related to food.  He was dizzy, had severe joint pain and developed a rash.  Once we got him to the right doctor and eliminated gluten from his diet all of his symptoms went away and haven’t come back.

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Kid’s Picks: Mini Pizzas and No-Bake Date Cookies

Mini pizza

 

No Bake Date Cookies

 

 

 

My kids picked the recipes for the mini pizzas and date cookies for this post, so needless to say they are family friendly.  The mini pizzas are really simple to make and are great for a quick lunch or dinner.  I like that the kids can make their own and put on their favorite toppings, so they get their pizza just how they want it (no complaining involved).  My kids, and my husband, love to have the Date Cookies for snack and they usually disappear the same day I make them.  They are full of oats and nuts, but no refined sugar.  There is no baking involved for these cookies, all you need is a food processor.  Kids can help make these cookies too.  You can have them measure ingredients and help roll the cookies.  I love to get my kids involved in cooking and they love to eat things that they make, even if it is a new food.

 

Mini Pizza

 

For each pizza:

Sprouted grain or whole grain English muffin (Like Ezekiel brand)

1 Tbsp tomato sauce

2 Tbsp vegan mozzarella cheese

pizza toppings of your choice:  spinach, black olives, vegan pepperoni, vegan sausage

 

Split open the English muffin and toast it for a couple of minutes under the broiler (watch it carefully).  Remove it from the oven and top the muffin with sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.  Put the pizza back under the broiler to melt the cheese.  Remember to watch it carefully.  Remove them from the oven and let cool for just a minute.  Serve the pizza with a salad or chopped veggies for a quick meal.

 

 

No Bake Date Cookies

 

Makes 12 cookies

1/4 Cup old fashioned oats

1/4 Cup raw almonds

1/4 Cup raw cashews

25-30 dried dates (make sure they are pitted)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp maple syrup

 

Grind the oats in the food processor and put into a bowl.  Grind the almonds and cashews and add them to the oats (your want them finely ground but not made into nut butter).  Puree the dates and then add the oats and nuts back in along with the cinnamon, salt and syrup.  Pulse the food processor to combine all of the ingredients together.  Put in all into a bowl and roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter.  If it is sticky wet your hands a little.

 

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Fruit Pizza

Fruit Pizza

Fruit Pizza

This was our dessert on Valentine’s Day.  My daughter saw a non-vegan version of fruit pizza in one of her magazine’s and kept asking me to make it.  I am so glad that I finally gave in and made it.  It was so good and I have never seen kids so eager to eat fruit before.  This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in making.  They can help with the cookie dough and help with decorating it with the fruit.   I replaced half of the white flour in the cookie recipe with whole wheat white flour and it turned out really good.  I think fruit pizza may be my new favorite dessert (except for chocolate of course).

 

 

Fruit Pizza

 

1/2 recipe for Grandma’s Sugar Cookies well chilled  (the other 1/2 can be frozen)

1 container of vegan cream cheese at room temperature or 1 recipe for frosting (on link above)

1/4 Cup of powdered sugar, if using cream cheese

3 cups of sliced fruit:  Strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, bananas

 

Preheat the oven to 400.  Roll out the sugar cookie dough to about a 1/2 inch thick.  You can make it round or rectangle depending on the shape of your baking pan.  Line your baking pan with parchment or use a silpat.  Bake the cookie for 12 minutes until the edges begin to brown.  Keep the cookie on the pan for at least 1o minutes to harden enough to move to a cooling rack or you can leave it on the pan.   Let the cookie cool completely.  If you are using cream cheese mix it with the powdered sugar.   Frost the cookie with cream cheese mixture or the frosting.  Top with the fruit and chill for at least 30 minutes.  Slice and serve.

 

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Polenta Pizza

polenta

polenta

Since my daughter had her surgery she can’t eat really crunchy or hard food, but she wanted to have some veggie pizza.  I made this pizza for her with a polenta crust.  The polenta holds all the toppings really well, but it softer than a regular crust.  This is not a pizza that you can pick up to eat, but the polenta is so good with all the veggies.  I topped this pizza with tofu ricotta and lots of veggies.  The polenta crust is great with any pizza toppings that you like though.

 

Polenta Pizza

 

2 cups Polenta (not the kind in the tube the is already cooked)

1 tsp salt

pepper to taste

Pizza toppings of your choice:  spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, tofu ricotta, broccoli, artichokes, olives, peppers, vegan cheese, veggie sausage or pepperoni

Cook the polenta according to the package directions until it is very thick.  I do not use the instant, so I boil the polenta in 6 cups of water for about 20 minutes.  Stir it frequently.  Stir in the salt and pepper.  Pour the polenta onto a large lightly oiled sheet pan and smooth it out.  Let it sit at room temperature for at least an hour so it can firm up.  Preheat the oven to 400.  Once the polenta is firm bake it for 20 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and add you toppings.  Bake it again for another 15-20 minutes until the polenta begins to brown around the edges and on the bottom.

 

Tofu Ricotta

 

1 block of firm or extra firm tofu drained and pressed

The juice of 1 lemon

5 TBSP of nutritional yeast

2 TBSP Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients and mash them together.  I like to use a potato masher for this.  It should have the texture of ricotta cheese when it is mashed.  Let is sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before you use it.

This is great as a pizza topping, for lasagna or stuffed shells.

 

 

 

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