Make Your Own Vegan Pizza Bar

So this is a vegan pizza recipe but not your typical pizza.

I mean the worst thing about vegan pizza is you discover that it is totally dry without the cheese (or the vegan fake processed cheese) or if you try to put too much wet stuff on top, it just gets mushy in the oven.

So I decided to think out of the box as to how I could have a crunchy crust pizza with scrumptious toppings that's not dry as the sahara and I came up with the "make your own vegan pizza bar." That means you make the dough and bake it plain, as in a flat-bread. You slice and cook whatever veggies you want on top separately. After the dough comes out of the oven, add some different toppings such as any roasted veggies cashew cheese, marinara sauce, vegan pesto and nut "parm" and pile up everything you want on top of it and Bon Appetit!

Vegan Cooking Level: Medium

Step 1: Buy or make your pizza dough. Truth be told, you can even do this with toasted french bread and skip the dough entirely!

1 packet yeast

1 tsp. sugar

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. warm water

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes until foamy. Add olive oil to the yeast mixture. In a large mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook, add 3 cups flour and 1 tsp. salt and pour the wet mixture into a well in the center. Mix at low speed, pushing the flour into the center and scraping down the sides until the dough sticks together and forms a ball. If too sticky add a little flour and mix again until the ball is neither too sticky or too dry. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead a few minutes until the ball is nice and soft and not sticky. Put back in the bowl and cover with a moist dish towel in a warm place for more than an hour. Once the dough has risen near the top of the bowl it is ready to use. Add flour to your work space and turn out the dough and knead for a few minutes until the dough is pliable and air bubbles are removed. Then, either pat down and out with fingers or use a rolling pin to roll out dough to your desired thickness. Place rolled dough gently on a cookie sheet, pan or pizza stone. I use parchment paper sprinkled with corn meal on a cookie pan. Lightly brush olive oil across the top (optional) and sprinkle on salt pepper or any other spices desired. Bake at 425 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Once you seen browning on the bottom, your flat bread pizza base is ready. Slice.

Step 2: Assemble your sauces and cooked veggies

My favorite sauces for pizza are my oil-free vegan pesto, marinara and cashew cheese, but you can have a delightful pizza without the cashew cheese, trust me (asparagus pizza photo above).

My favorite veggies for this vegan pizza are asparagus, cauliflower and spinach, separately or together. But you might like sauteed zucchini, mushrooms, peppers or olives and roasted or stewed tomatoes instead of sauce. Whatever you want to put on top ends up amazing.

Easy prep tip: I do like to keep some marinara and some pestos and even some cashew cheese I use for making other meals handy in the fridge at all times so that making pizza is simply a matter of making (or buying) the dough and cooking up whatever veggies I have on hand!

Step 3: Take a flat bread, spread on some sauce, top with veggies and drizzle with more sauce in any order everyone desires!

Health tip: This pizza can be as low-fat as you make it. My Oil-free Red Pepper Pesto is made with nuts (although no oil or cheese) so it makes your pizza a lot more calorie-dense. While cashew cheese is made from just soaked cashews and water, it still has a naturally high fat content so if you are watching your fat intake or your weight, then use the pesto and the cashew cheese sparingly. The good news is that even a thin drizzle of each makes a huge difference in taste!

Want to take back your health eating this way

but need help to get the weight loss and health results you really want?