YDV Monday means Rustic Pizza

Rustic Pizza

Nom nom nom…nom..nmmm… This is um…nom nom nom…the YDV Meatless Monday meal.  It’s pretty…nom nom nom…..good.  You should totally try it out.  I did and here’s how it all went down.

I went searching at the local health food store for a vegan pizza crust.  I’ve never made a crust myself and the task seemed pretty daunting to me.  I search high (in the refrigerated section) and low (in the dairy section!?) but couldn’t find a crust that didn’t have honey in it.  I made a quick stop at the bread section but didn’t see anything there either.  Sigh.  So I began the hunt for a pizza crust mix.  Yes, I require a mix.  There! I admit it. Moving on…

I found this and only this as far as pizza crust mixes were concerned:

Sweet.  The gluten free didn’t bother me a bit.  I snagged the box, made sure I had everything I needed to make the crust and I was off.  Well, that is after picking up some of the other toppin’s.  I decided that a faux sausage (Lightlife Brand), tomato, mushroom, and herb pizza sounded fantastic.  Then, as a splurge, I picked up a block of Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese* and headed out.

**We aren’t doing a review of Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese mind you.  But if we were, we’d say that it has a pretty good flavor but wouldn’t melt even if you held a blowtorch to it**

It was the first time that I’d ever done pizza crust and it was the first time that I ever had to use dry active yeast.  It came with the mix, so I didn’t have to buy it.  That was nice.  I made the dough and let it sit (covered with a damp cloth) for 30 minutes to rise.  Once the dough has risen, you punch (good for anger management) it down.  Then it’s ready to use.

Now, a little known fact about me is that I used to flip pizzas for a living.  I could toss them, catch them and twirl them.  In fact, I was so good that I was the one stuck slapping out the dough on busy Friday nights.  I know, it’s pretty glamorous.  So when it came to shaping the dough, I thought that I’d be just fine.  Hmmm….my pizza career was 13 years ago (thirteen?!) so maybe I might not be as good as I remember.  Maybe I suck.  Yes, indeed.

ANYWAY, I got the dough to cover a baking sheet in a relatively rectangle shape.  Yes, I had some lumps and bumps.  But you know what?  Garlic and pizza sauce love to hide out in lumps and bumps and craters, so it’s like I did it on purpose.  I baked the crust for about 15 minutes and took it out to cool.  Meanwhile I dumped the faux sausage in a skillet with a little bit of oil to brown.  I got the tomatoes and mushrooms cut while the faux sausage was browning.  Oh, and I grated the vegan cheese.

Then it came time to assemble.  Oh, wait, the herbs.  I needed to go to the garden and get some herbs.  So I put the crust back in the oven, but I left the oven door open a little.  Then I put my toppings on a plate and put the plate in the cupboard.  Why you ask?  Why did I have to move everything food related off of my counters?  Well….

I present to you exhibit A:

Lakini is a sneaky kitty

Yes, that is the reason.  That is Lakini, my sneaky cat.  She will eat anything, and I mean anything, anytime or anywhere.  And she’s quick.  She can jump on the counter and get to a hot skillet cooking faux bacon and swipe a piece and eat it, all before you even realized you are missing something out of your hot skillet.  She’s the Olympic version of speed eating for the terminally hungry.  So, if I had left the kitchen without securing it (yes, we use military vocabulary when discussing the cat missions), I would have returned to no crust and no toppin’s.  That cat would eat even the mushrooms.

After securing the site, I grabbed my herb scissors and I was out the door.  I grabbed some sweet basil, oregano, and thyme and headed back in.  I washed and minced the herbs along with a couple of cloves of garlic.  I was ready to rock.  I piled all my toppin’s, herbs, vegan cheese, some spicy pizza sauce on top of my baked crust.  I popped the pizza in the oven for 20 minutes and then it was time to get my grub on!

The crust was bread-y without being too bread-y.  The bottom had a nice crunch to it and held the toppings really well.  I’d probably brush the crusts with olive oil and then spice them for some extra flavor if I was to make this again.  And I would too.  Make this again that is.  It took me about an hour all together to make this.  So while it’s not as fast as other meals, it is worthwhile in terms of the yum factor.