Veggie Pizza

Ive been getting a bit bored with the "experimental" vegetarian dishes. Plus, the holidays exhausted me so much, I wanted to do a Meatless Monday recipe that was pretty simple. When I originally decided on doing a veggie pizza, the plan was to buy one of those premade crusts from the store and going from there. As everyone can tell by now, I don't like to take those premade short-cuts very often. As I researched pizza crust recipes, I found one that could be made using all ingredients I had at home already. Score! This recipe is one of the few that I found not using yeast. I believe this makes the crust gluten free, though I am not sure how the all purpose flour works into that category. If you are allergic to wheat, please do not take my word on the fact that this pizza is gluten free. Anyone who is allergic would obviously know what to look for better than myself, but just to be safe....please do not trust my judgement!! I also do not know if any of my toppings could be considered gluten free either. It is not a subject I am well versed on, since I do not know anyone who is affected by a wheat allergy (knock on wood).

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Stir until it forms a ball. If dough is stiff, add a little more water. Kneed for 3-4 minutes on a well floured surface. Spread thin on a pizza baking sheet. Bake on 400 for 5 minutes. Top crust with preferred toppings and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.


OK....big oops!! I completely forgot the oil when I made this last night and didn't realize until I was copying the recipe that I had done so. Though my big oops could really be a little oops since the pizza came out fabulous and no one thought there was anything missing. Maybe I will leave out the oil from now on to cut some calories. I will probably try it at least once with the oil to see if there is much of a difference, but this blunder was really no biggie!

Spreading the dough out thin took alot of patience. My kitchen is lacking in some supplies and I do not know what I need until the very moment that I need it. Last night I realized I need a rolling pin and a pizza cutter. I kneaded the dough thin by starting in the middle and working my way out in a circular fashion. This would have been way more fun if I had the skills of a professional pizza tosser. Sadly, I do not so I was reprimanding my dough anytime it would tear even in the slightest.

Once the dough is baked for its preliminary 5 minutes, it is ready to be topped! You can top a pizza with just about anything under the stars, as I am sure you already know! With such a simple crust recipe made from kitchen staples, this would be a great meal to make when you have not planned anything or for those days when you desperately need to go food shopping and just don't have the motivation. No sauce handy? Use some garlic and oil to make a white pizza! No cheese? Tomato pie! Add any combination of meats and/or veggies that will tickle your taste buds. I probably have never been so excited over eating pizza. The take-out menu places just can't compare to my fresh pizza made in my own oven.

This was a great meal to have Sophia get involved in. Since I did plan ahead, we decided what toppings we wanted and went to the market to pick them up. Sophia decided she needed spinach. For such a picky eater, I seem to have the only child in the world who hates french fries but loves spinach. Not complaining, but I can not figure that one out! I wanted a bit more on my portion of the pizza. This pizza wound up being LOADED with fresh veggies and cheese! I had spinach, olives (not the canned kind, the good ones!!!), sliced grape tomatoes, and mushrooms. Yum! This reminded me of a fancy bistro style pizza. Definately not the greasy mess you can have delivered.

We invited my friend Krystle to come over and make pizza with us, so she managed to get some great pictures of our evening! They got all jumbled out of chronological order, which bugs my eyeballs, but you get the idea. I am not necessarily the most tech savvy person out there.