Pizza Party

It's Saturday night, I drank too much and stayed up too late last night, so I decided to stay in and, surprise, cook. And I decided that calories don't count today. Since I bought the soy pepperoni's, I decided I had to make a pizza and it had to be tonight, despite the fact that I lacked most other ingredients. So I began...

I got stuck on the crust because I didn't want something that would take forever to make. I checked out my favorite recipe collection at vegweb.com and came up with this one. I read through the comments and ended up with this (double the original recipe):

1 cup white flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 TB yeast
2 TB sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
Some cornmeal for extra ooomph (1/2 cup?)

I probably should have put some salt in it, but, hey, I am a little tired from last night's festivities so I forgot. I added the yeast and sugar to the lukewarm water, which I just guessed at the temperature. I let it sit for about 10 minutes until it got nice and foamy and more than doubled in size (which according to the yeast package means it's still active).

Meanwhile, in the 10 crazy minutes (because I didn't plan anything until after I got started on the dough) while I waited for the yeast, I sauteed 3 small onions and 3 cloves of garlic in some olive oil (.5 TB?) until transparent, then added half a giant can of diced tomatoes. I generally don't like canned tomatoes, but they were all I had so I went with it. I let it simmer for a few minutes and then scooped out half of it into a bowl. To the pan I added a bunch of dried spices: marjoram, basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, and red pepper flakes. I then threw in some herbed vinegar and some white wine just because I felt a little fancy. To the bowl I added Trader Joe's Chipotle Salsa and "Mexican Style" chili powder which is chili powder with cumin in it. I then threw the bowl in the microwave with about a cup of frozen corn in a separate cup for about 3 minutes.

I mixed the flour and yeast mixture until it formed a dough, then spread it out on a regular ungreased baking sheet. Stuck that in a 425 degree oven for 5 minutes, then took out and topped. To one half, I added the Italian spiced tomatoes, Better Than Cream Cheese, and slices of my soy pepperoni. To the other half, I added the Mexican spiced tomatoes and piled high the corn and some pinto beans. As an afterthought, I added some Better Than Cream Cheese to cool off the chipotle salsa. I baked it for another 15-20 minutes until the edges of the crust got dark.

I was obnoxiously careful not to let the flavors of the pizza mingle. I went to extreme efforts to ensure my Mexican pizza would not touch or taint my pepperoni pizza. That alone probably took me 20 minutes as I cut into them.

The Mexican pizza was ok but needed something else. I didn't think Cheerios would work, though, so I just went with what I had. The pepperoni pizza hit the spot. It was 100 times better than I was anticipating and the Better Than Cream Cheese melted nicely (though I had to spread it around using the pepperoni's) and gave it a great flavor.

I ate half of each pizza and now feel like I might explode. But it was so worth it. I can't wait to make the pepperoni pizza again. And it was beautiful. I swear I'm getting batteries tomorrow for my camera.