Pizza Kick

Hi friends!

Can you believe it’s almost August?  Summer is flying by MUCH too quickly!  Before we know it, Colorado snowflakes will be back again.  It makes me shiver just thinking about it.  The one thing I do appreciate about all the 90+ and 100+ days we’ve had this summer is that I won’t be as sad to see autumn arrive.  (But NOT winter!  Boo!  Hiss!)

I went through a bit of a pizza kick last week.  Not sure why, but it just sounded great.  You all know I LOVE pizza, preferably when they are made at home.  Pita pizzas and pizza on the grill are popular in our house.  I went to pick up some sprouted grain pita pockets along with my other fixins’ but I must have gone to the store right after a big shopping rush because I was striking out left and right.

It was time to improvise so I found an interesting pre-made whole grain crust at the health food store. I bought two because I just knew I had pizza on the brain and was going to play.

My half of our first pizza was soft goat cheese, roasted beet slices and apple slices.

After baking, I topped it with some dressed spinach and basil and some balsamic-glazed walnuts.

No words.  It was delightful.  The goat cheese was creamy, the beets were earthy, the balsamic and apples gave it a bit of sweet.

The leftovers were even better. 

As it sat overnight in the fridge, the apples soaked up the juice from the beets and the colors became so vibrant.  This time I topped it with the just the balsamic walnuts and basil chiffonade.

For the next pizza I wanted to make a vegan version of Cory’s favorite – he likes BBQ chicken pizza like CPK offers.  That one has a BBQ sauce base, bites of chicken breast, red onion (although he always asks for no onion) and a sprinkle of cilantro. Here’s the homemade version I make for him:

But I wanted to switch it up a bit for my half of the pizza and create a vegan version.

- to the BBQ sauce I added some chipotle in adobo purée for some added heat

- in lieu of chicken, I used bite-size pieces of seitan

- to keep it vegan and dairy-free, I used Daiya mozzarella style shreds

- in lieu of diced red onion, I thinly sliced red onion and then quick-pickled it with vinegar and a little sugar

- rather than just cilantro, I blended together avocado and cilantro into dressing to squeeze over the top, which provided a nice cooling balance to the heat of the chipotle peppers

Oh my goodness.  I kid you not, this was the best piece of pizza I recall eating in a really long time.  Every bite was an explosion of flavors.  I can’t wait to make it again!

What toppings were on the best piece of pizza you’ve ever had? 

– Shari B. =)