Simple Vegan Pizza

Once upon a time I decided that I was going to give up eating meat for a week just to see how I felt. Two days in, I caved and had a chicken salad sammie at my favorite deli across the street from my house. I felt really bad afterwards and thought I could continue on my journey and be a lot more disciplined. Truth be told, after so many years of consuming meat, I think our bodies naturally crave chicken or beef or seafood. But for all the vegans of the world, I commend you, I think it is truly a vow and accomplishment to one’s self to not sustain any meats in your diet. I’m sure the health factors are amazing!

I thought about trying the weekly ‘not eating meat’ thing again and then I decided to take it down a notch. So for the past 4 weeks I’ve been doing Meatless Monday’s and loving it. The idea of taking one day out of seven to get in tune with all the varieties of vegetables and whole grains to make complete meals are overwhelming. In fact, the vegan industry has devised so many meat-alternatives, that anyone could try being vegan and love it.

This Meatless Monday proved to be one of my favorites because I wanted to take pizza to a whole new level of vegan. While shopping for ingredients, I came across the most interesting meat and cheese substitutes and believe it or not, they all rocked. If you want to try being vegan for a day or a week, get out there and try some of those substitute ingredients. Play with your food!

This recipe is so simple to make and everything was available at my local grocery store. Make sure you to use whole wheat pizza dough to really kick up the fiber. Hope you love it and watch the video too to get all the secrets of making a perfect vegan pizza.

Greek Goddess Vegan Pizza

Ingredients:
•1 Lb whole wheat pizza dough
•Whole wheat flour for dusting
•2 pints grape tomatoes
•1head garlic, sliced in half
•4 stems fresh oregano, plus 2 Tbsp chopped
•2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
•1/2 tsp kosher salt
•1/2 black pepper
•2 small Japanese eggplant, thin sliced
•1 Tbsp kosher salt
•1 tsp olive oil
•1/2 tsp cumin
•1/2 tsp garlic powder
•1/2 tsp ground coriander
•1/4 kalamata olives, sliced
•1/2 Lb soy mozzarella cheese (vegan), shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400*. On a sheet tray, toss tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and oil. Roast for 45 minutes. Set aside to cool. While tomatoes are roasting, place eggplant in a colander and sprinkle salt on top. Let sit in colander in the sink for 30 minutes. Rinse well and pat dry. Heat a grill pan to medium high. In a bowl, toss eggplant, spices, and oil. Grill till golden brown. Set aside. When tomatoes have cooled, remove garlic from their skins and squeeze into a blender. Add tomatoes (remove any stems). Blend until combined. This is the tomato sauce for the pizza crust. Flour a large surface and roll out pizza dough. Oil a pizza pan and place dough on top. Ladle tomato sauce, layer with eggplant, and sprinkle soy cheese. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until crust is golden. Remove and sprinkle olives, a little sea salt, black pepper, and a dash of good quality olive oil on top before slicing and serving.

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Happy Eating!