I've Been Waiting All Day to Make This Pizza

Because I haven't been feeling well (jetlag from my ridiculous LA overnighter), I decided to cheer myself up with food. I need to overdose on veggies since I am not feeling well, and I wanted to sneak in a little protein that is not peanut butter. What's better than pizza?

I used my onion-herbed beer bread recipe (3c flour, onion, herbs, 1 bottle beer) as the basis for crust. I flattened it out into 4 mini-crusts on a greased cookie sheet. I put it in a 375 degree oven for a few minutes while I assembled the sauce, which is strangely similar to my creamy tomato soup- 3 regular tomatos, 2TB tomato paste, 1 package of firm silken tofu, 4 cloves garlic, and salt/pepper- using my handy dandy immersion blender. I slapped the sauce on the pizza and put it back in while I made the other toppings- spinach (2pkg frozen), mushrooms (10 white), and thinly sliced red onion (.25c). I added those to the pizza and put it back in while I chopped up 2 roma tomatoes and 10 black olives. Last time out, I added the tomato slices, olives, and capers (the greatest ingredient ever). I let it cook a few more minutes then turned the broiler on for a few more so the tomatoes would roast a little.

I had to write the blog while it cooled, otherwise I'd have burned my mouth. It's pretty good- though the sauce could have been stronger (more salt/tomato paste maybe?. And I used frozen spinach, which made the crust a little soggy in the middle because I didn't strain it very well.

Still hit the spot.

More Pizza

When I left my apartment this morning, I intended to walk about 2 miles from the Metro to a bicycle store to purchase a bike for the triathlon I'm doing to celebrate 10 years of cancer survivorship and to raise money for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. I got to the bike shop and purchased a bike (woohoo), but they didn't have it in stock so my plan to ride it home was shot. Instead I hiked the 8 miles back home. That is deserving of pizza.

I started by caramelizing 2 small onions, though I'm fairly certain I didn't do it right. I sprayed the pan with a little olive oil spray, but didn't actually use oil like you're supposed to. Oh well. Then I deglazed with some red wine vinegar and let it cook about a minute. I took all but 1TB of the onions out and set aside for later. To the onions still in the pan I added 2 cloves of garlic. After about a minute I got impatient, added a TB of white wine, and added 2 cups of canned organic diced tomatoes. After preheating the oven to 425 , I let the sauce simmer while I took the dog out.

Upon returning, I made the same recipe for pizza dough (only I did equal parts flour and .5 cup cornmeal instead) that I've made before and stuck it in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile I added a bunch of different Italian spices to the tomatoes in addition to 1 cup of frozen chopped spinach since I needed another serving of veggies for the day. I also put 3 servings of meatless buffalo chicken pieces in the microwave to thaw a little so I could cut them up into tiny pieces. After I took the dough out, I put the sauce on and 4 TB of Better than Cream Cheese. I popped it in the oven to melt the cheese then spread it around and topped it with the onions and the buffalo meatless chicken pieces. I put it back in the oven until it was all warm and the crust looked done and turned on the broiler to get the meatless chicken crunchy.

I'm generally hesitant to consume fake meat because I'm scared it will be horrendus. However, every time I've had it, I've been pleasantly surprised. The only problem with this fake meat was that it was too dry for what I wanted- by that I mean that I was hoping for something smothered in a spicy sauce. It was sort of spicy, just not what I was hoping for, but I'd kind of gathered that from the picture. Could you give it to a meat eater without them realizing it's meatless? Probably, but they'd probably think it was a little lacking or trying to be healthy. But I'd buy it again.

As you can guess, it was fantastic. The cream cheese cooled the little heat from the meatless chicken, though I sadly couldn't really taste the onions. It clocks in at about 2000 calories total (crust about 1000, tomatoes 120, onions/garlic 50, meat 390, and cream cheese 120). I ate half of it because I was starving from my long journey, but there is enough to have 4 decent servings.

Not Your Mama Herman's Roni Rolls

In college Nick Herman's mom, Mama Herman, would make amazing roni rolls. They were so simple and so delicious, especially after single-handedly consuming 3 gallons of cheap beer. I wanted some pizza-type of food today since it's another calorie-free weekend (thanks LBD!), so I dreamt up this concoction. Note: there is no pepperoni in my rolls, nor is there anything resembling pepperoni. So, basically, they aren't roni rolls at all. And as for the pizza theme, there isn't even any tomato anything near these.

Mama Herman would start with store bought pizza dough. But since I'm lazy and not feeling well, I thought I'd whip up my own dough that I seem to be perfecting lately. I followed my usual recipe (search the archives under pizza) but added Italian herbs (surprised?) and chopped onion. If I hadn't finished off the beer last night, I would have made my herbed onion beer bread instead. I rolled the dough in to 8 large balls and then realized they were too large. So I took half of each ball, flattened it out by hand (probably would have been easier with the rolling pin, but I can't figure out how to use it), and added a chunk each of mozarella vegan cheese and cheddar vegan cheese. I rolled up, placed on cookie sheet, and baked on 375 until it looked done on the outside.

While it was cooking, I added some sea salt to 2 small cloves of minced garlic and used the back of my knife to make it into a quasi garlic paste. I put it in my lovely ramekin and added a tablespoon or two of olive oil. This is the perfect dipping sauce for anything. And the longer it sits out, the better it gets. Not that I've left it out all day and eaten it later...

Just before they were done, I used a spoon to spread some garlic olive oil atop the rolls. Who needs a brush...Anyway, I let them cook a few more minutes and took them out. The chese was oozing out and it was all I could do not to lick the pan. Then when I took off the two breadsticks I made with the last bit of dough, I remembered that I forgot (of course) to add salt to the dough. So I quickly salted the tops of my rolls and put them in the oven for a minute .

It's sort of a good thing that I bit into one and the cheese oozed all over me. Because I had to go back to the kitchen to get a bib and remembered I'd left the other tray of them in the oven. Oops. At least I turned the oven off. Don't worry, they didn't burn and even if they did, I'd scarf them down anyway.

I have learned today what food porn is. Not only is there cheesy goo oozing all over me (it's even in my hair) as I eat a completely delicious treat, but I'm also watching my secret boyfriend, Michael Chiarello on the Food Network. It's pure filthy goodness and I now need to go shower.

Oh, and I just noticed cheese on the wall.

Wannabe Pizza

I wanted to make another amazing pizza, but I didn't want all the calories. So I improvised. I made some polenta, let it congeal, then cut it into 9 squares. Baked on 400 for 30-40 minutes until brown. Meanwhile, in the blender I added 1 cup dark red kidney beans, lots of Italian spices, a touch of water, a TB or so of tomato paste, and blended until smooth. I added 1/3 large onion I'd just sauteed at the end.

Once the polenta squares were done, I smothered on my bean sauce and topped each pizza with a pepperoni. Not as good as the real pizza, but a nice little meal. Might be a good appetizer dish. A little Better Than Cream Cheese might have been nice, as well as some red pepper flakes. But I ran out of the former and just totally forgot the latter. *Sigh*

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.