Monday, January 30, 2012

I'm the vegan Paula Deen y'all! J/k, I'd never eat that junk, but this food is good!!

So, I'm working on a new cooking endeavor. I'm making a YouTube cooking show! I spent hours filming it last weekend and was so tired at the end, I didn't even film my second recipe. However, y'all are in luck because I'm posting both recipes here so you can have a preview!  I'm not sure when the episode will be edited. So, I couldn't wait to share with you. 


I love pizza. I have tons of creative pizzas I make, but for now, I'm just going to share two that I adore. One of my crusts is regular and one is gluten-free. Everyone loved the gluten free version better. Surprising, but  I'm happy with that result. Anyway, here they are:



Vegan Spinach - Mushroom - Sausage Pizza
Besides ingredients listed below for each component of the pizza, you will also need Daiya cheese.

Crust
3 ¼ C Whole wheat pastry flour
½ C yellow cornmeal
1 ½ Teaspoon Himalayan pink crystal salt
2 tbsp honey or agave
4 ½ tsp  rapid rise yeast
1 ¼ C warm water 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit
½ C olive oil
Mix yeast ¼ cup of warm water, ¼ cup of flour and honey or agave in a bowl. Let stand in a warm place for 10 minutes. Mix in with the rest of the ingredients, knead for 15-20 min punch down and knead until the correct texture is achieved (add a bit more flour if needed so it’s not sticky). If you want a lighter crust, you can reduce or omit the olive oil and add in up to 1/4 cup of water if dough is too dry.

While the dough is sitting, make your Italian sausage, sauteed mushrooms, tomato sauce and spinach and cheese mixture.

Saute the mushrooms in olive oil, about 5 min on medium heat, remove from heat and set aside.

Make cheese mixture:
½  brick of firm tofu
1 tub of non-dairy cream cheese
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp granulated garlic
mash together with fork and add in spinach

Set aside while you make the "sausage" 

Vegan Italian Sausage recipe:
1lb high protein tofu
1tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1tsp onion powder
1tsp Marmite (yeast extract) w/ 1/4 c olive oil
1tsp fennel seed
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsp oregano
Crumble your high protein tofu into a bowl add in salt, pepper and onion powder. Mix the Marmite with olive oil (it won't ever blend completely but mix until the olive oil looks brownish and the Marmite isn't so sticky and blend together with the tofu mixture
Set aside.
Place the minced garlic and fennel seed into oiled pan and sauté together add in the tofu mixture and oregano sauté until the tofu is very browned and a crispy add more olive oil for sauteing  if needed
Set aside and make tomato sauce

Tomato Sauce:
2 cups tomatoes (canned is fine)
2tsp agave
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp onion powder

 Puree all ingredients in blender

When dough is ready, assemble the pizza.

Press dough into oiled pan and up on the sides. Brush the bottom of the crust with olive oil, next spread the spinach and cheese mixture. Spread tomato sauce on top of that then add the sausage and mushrooms. Top with Daiya cheese or any other brand of vegan cheese you enjoy. Place pizza in oven pre-heated to 475 and cook for 20 -30 minutes.

Creamy Jalapeno and Chorizo pizza- Gluten Free

For this pizza, besides the ingredients listed for each component of the pizza below, you will need avocado, olives and Daiya or other brand of vegan cheese.

Pizza crust recipe
3 1/4 cups flour (flour = 1 1/4C GF oat flour, 1C tapioca starch, 1C rice flour)
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 Tbsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp honey or agave
4 1/2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast (this is equal to two 1/4 oz packets)
1 1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup vinegar
½ cup olive oil




Mix yeast ¼ cup of warm water, ¼ cup of flour and honey or agave nectar in a bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place for 10 minutes. Mix in all the other ingredients, knead 10-15 min and let stand covered for about 1 hour.
Set aside while you prep the other components.

Pre-heat oven to 475 

 Creamy Jalapeno Sauce:
1 8oz tub non-dairy creme cheese spread (I use Trader Joe's non-dairy spread, Tofutti also makes a good one)
1 Tbsp TJ’s Red Jalapeno Sauce
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 clove of minced garlic, sautéed in approx 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1tsp agave
dash of salt

Sauté the garlic first then blend together with the other ingredients
set aside

Next make Vegan Chorizo- you can also purchase vegan Chorizo at many grocery stores if you prefer not to make it however, I love the health benefits of tempe so I made this recipe.

Vegan Chorizo:
Tofurkey brand Homestyle Tempe
1 tsp salt
1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar or regular distilled vinegar
2 tsp agave nectar
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp chili pepper
2tsp organic ketchup
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 cloves of garlic minced
dash of oregano
ground black pepper to taste
tbsp water
Crumble tempe and mix all ingredients then sauté in olive oil until desired texture and consistency is reached

Set aside

Assemble pizza when dough is ready.

Press dough into oiled pan. Pour creamy jalapeno sauce over bottom of crust and spread evenly. Next add a layer of fresh spinach top with soy chorizo then add olives and top with Daiya cheese. Place in oven preheated to 475 bake for 20- 30 minutes. After removing pizza from oven, slice up an avocado place on top of the cheese. Coat avocado slices with lemon juice so they don’t turn brown. Sprinkle some chili pepper and paprika if desired and serve.