Pizza by Anna

When our sister Anna visited last September she made a yummy spinach and tomato pizza for a quick lunch. We asked her for the recipe and she gave us her favorites. Here we go! It's a perfect Friday night meal! Happy l-o-n-g weekend everyone!

Pizza by Anna
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Okay, so for my pizza making. I usually use a store-bought crust because I don't get home from work until around 6:30 and don't want to wait for crust to raise. But I love homemade pizza crust, so... I found this recipe for a dough that doesn't really need to rise. There is some room for improvement - mostly in our method - but overall it was a success!

Crust:
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
oregano, basil, garlic
cornmeal
In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, oil and chopped herbs. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and pat or roll into  round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Bake in oven until just starting to bubble. Remove from oven and brush with olive oil before adding desired toppings. Bake directly on rack after adding toppings.

While Jared was mixing the yeast with the water I started on the sauce... ingredients below.

Sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 of a small onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sugar
red pepper flakes (optional)
Saute the onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil until translucent and tender. Add the garlic and saute just a minute or so until the garlic is fragrant (careful - it burns fast!). Stir in tomato sauce, paste, salt, garlic powder, sugar, and a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like a little heat. Allow to simmer a few minutes and then remove from heat while you prepare the pizza dough.

We made two pizzas last night using the same dough and sauce. We doubled the dough recipe and spread equal parts on two baking sheets. We went square to maximize the space (they were about 12x12in) and baked the dough, on the baking sheets, at 450º until they just started to bubble. Then we removed them from the oven, added toppings (see below) and placed them back in the oven to finish but this time they went directly on the rack for nice crispy crust!

Pizza Margherita:
thinly sliced tomatoes
fresh mozzarella cheese
fresh basil
Prepare crust as directed, spread with sauce and layer tomatoes, cheese and basil. Bake until crust browns and cheese is melted.

Jared loves this pizza - and it's so easy. We have a tiny terra cotta garden in our backyard so are fortunate enough to just walk out back and grab basil and throw it on the pizza, but fresh basil is definitely a must here!



Veggie Pizza:
thinly sliced onion
thinly sliced green bell pepper
sliced mushrooms
pineapple
Prepare crust as directed, spread with sauce and spread ingredients over top. Bake until crust browns and veggies are slightly tender.

I think one of the reasons I like making my own pizza so much is because I get some really strange looks when I order pizza without cheese at a restaurant. Yeah, I'm sure you're thinking the same thing. However, put enough sauce and veggies on the crust and you may not even miss the cheese! Sometimes I throw vegan mozzarella on but honestly, most days I prefer just the sauce and veggies.



Spinach and Tomato Pizza:
fresh spinach leaves
sliced tomatoes
sliced mushrooms
Prepare crust as directed, spread with sauce and spread ingredients over top. Bake until crust browns and veggies are hot.

Happy Valentine's Day - Vegan!

To follow up with our Meatless Mondays here's a guest post from our sister, Anna, with some vegan Valentine's Day treats!

From Anna:
It just so happens that my office was having a bake sale (budget cuts and whatnot... just kidding... it's for our recreation association) on my favorite holiday of the year. I LOVE Valentine's Day. And I took the opportunity to whip up some yummy vegan treats, including a vegan version of my mom's amazing muffins. Hold on to your little red hearts... there's a lot!


MUFFINS
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First thing this morning I made muffins. I absolutely love my Mom's muffin recipe, which can be adapted to almost any kind of muffin. As I often do when I'm craving some non-vegan deliciousness, I veganized her recipe, and I was thrilled with the result!

1 cup earth balance or other butter substitute
1 cup organic cane sugar
2 Tbs egg replacer (mixed with 6 Tbs water, as directed)
1 cup applesauce
1 cup soy or almond milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
½ tsp salt
4 cups flour

I usually use earth balance but forgot to pick it up this week and my local grocer doesn't carry it, so in this case I used sticks of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter. It contains whey so it's not technically vegan, but I decided it was okay for this purpose.

1. Cream together softened butter, sugar, and egg replacer (I use Bob’s Red Mill – made from soy and wheat).



2. Add the applesauce, milk, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients. I used whole wheat pastry flour but you could also use all purpose flour or your own pantry staple.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients to cream mixture. Add berries, bananas, etc… see below.
5. Line muffin tin with muffin papers and spoon muffin mixture into papers.
6. Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes – 18 minutes was plenty for me.
7. VOILA. Muffins! Makes 12 jumbo muffins or 24 regular muffins.

I made two batches today – one was banana nut and one was blueberry. For the banana nut I added three smashed bananas and about ¾ cup of chopped walnuts. I also threw some chocolate chips in the second wave that went into the oven. For the blueberry, I sprinkled about a cup of blueberries with about a tablespoon of sugar and folded it into the batter.



Next I started on the cookies. But then I realized I was out of maple syrup so I took a hiatus and spent a couple hours at the beach with my hubby.



After I had my fill of vitamin D for the day, I swung by the store and continued my quest.

CHOCOLATE DIPPED SHORTBREAD COOKIES
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I love this recipe! The cookies are delicious even without the chocolate and since they have no refined sugars they come with little guilt! It’s a recipe, one of many I use, from Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet. Her recipe follows. And for those of you who can’t have beach time, I would also recommend her hot cocoa to accompany them.

Cookies
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup safflower oil
• 2/3 cup maple syrup (the real stuff, not pancake syrup!)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fine sea salt

Chocolate Coating
• 2 cups nondairy chocolate or carob chips
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 Tbs safflower oil

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine the flours and baking powder in a large mixing bowl
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, syrup, vanilla extract, and salt
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to form a smooth dough
5. If the mixture is too crumbly, add a bit of water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and up to 1 tablespoon more oil until the dough just holds together
6. Roll the dough out to ½” thickness between two sheets of parchment or wax paper
7. Use cookie cutters or a knife to cut the dough into desired shapes. Of course today, that’s hearts!



8. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheet
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to a baking rack to cool completely.
10. While the cookies are cooling, combine the chocolate chips, syrup, and oil in the top of a double boiler and place over simmering water. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a stainless steel bowl over boiling water and melt the ingredients in it. I used a glass bowl over boiling water.
11. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand for 5-10 minutes or until the chocolate melts
12. Stir until smooth
13. Dip each cookie halfway into the chocolate sauce, and place on a sheet of wax or parchment paper.



14. Chill in the refrigerator until hardened. ENJOY! Or share with your valentine(s)!



Next I started on another fave from The Kind Diet. These are so yummy! They are especially good straight out of the freezer – a good place to stash them for days when you just need some pb and chocolate. We all have them.

KIND LIFE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS
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1⁄2 cup Earth Balance butter
3⁄4 cup crunchy peanut butter (preferably unsweetened and unsalted)
3⁄4 cup graham cracker crumbs or 10 graham cracker squares
1⁄4 cup maple sugar or other granulated sweetener (I used raw turbinado today)
1 cup nondairy chocolate or carob chips
1⁄4 cup soy, rice, or nut milk
1⁄4 cup chopped pecans, almonds, or peanuts (I used peanuts today)

STEPS
1. Line a 12-cup muffin tin or a 24-cup mini-muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
3. Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar and mix well. Remove the mixture from the heat.
4. Evenly divide the mixture among the muffin cups. I usually like to let them sit in the fridge awhile before moving on to the chocolate.



5. Combine the chocolate and milk in another pan.
6. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.
7. Spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture.
8. Top with chopped nuts.
9. Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours before serving.



Lastly, I made a standard chocolate chip cookie. I’ve tried a lot and this recipe is by far my favorite. They are beautiful and yummy and no one will EVER guess they are dairy and egg free. This woman is a genius.

VEGAN HOMESTYLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Recipe from Dreena Burton at Everyday Dish TV
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1 cup all-purpose flour (I used half all-purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 cup sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
1⁄3 cup pure maple syrup
1⁄4 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1 – 1 1⁄2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1⁄4 cup canola oil (I used safflower oil)
1⁄3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not over-mix). Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet and flatten a little. Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out). Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack.



And that wraps up my Valentine’s bake-a-thon!





Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Anna is a vegan eating - Hawaiian living - adventuresome cook and she regularly spends her Sundays alternating between whipping up meals for the week and laying on the beach. She can whip up some amazing stuff so watch for more posts from her in the future! Vegan or not, your mouth will water and you'll want to try her recipes!