Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Pizza

Vegan Pizza is another great book from Julie Hasson. The first three chapters are full of easy doughs, tasty pizza sauces and meaty-style toppings, before moving on to the pizzas.

An important point to mention is that all these pizzas has stood up to my ultimate pizza test: they all taste great cold straight from the fridge the next day! (Actually, I almost like cold leftover pizza more than fresh hot pizza....).

Tomato-Basil Pizza: This is a simple classic pizza, which is sort of more of a snack pizza than a meal pizza. It is made up of pizza base, Tomato-Garlic Sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil. I went for a side by side cheese comparison - Daiya on the left and Cheezly on the right.
Rating: :)



Valentine's Pizza: Or not valentine, I made this to enjoy all on my own sometime far away from February. The layers are pizza base, sun-dried, tomato and arugula pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes. There was also meant to be red capsicum on it but no way would I ruin a perfectly good dinner with capsicum!
Rating: :)



Corn, Pesto, Zucchini and Tomato Pizza: A fun summer flavours pizza made up of dough, pesto (I cheated and used a bottled one), mozzarella, zucchini, tomato and corn.
Rating: :)



Mushroom, Broccoli, and Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza: This is pretty self-explanatory, though it also has some tomato-garlic sauce, mozzarella and toasted pine nuts as well.
Rating: :)



Pineapple and Jalapeno Pizza: I love pineapple on pizza, and I will not apologise! This is like a Hawaiian pizza, with some delicious sweet and smoky soy curls in place of ham. To be honest next time I would leave off the jalapenos and add sliced black olives, because I like my Hawaiian pizzas trashy.
Rating: :)



Smoky Wild Mushroom and Potato Pizza: This pizza has a great smoky white cheese sauce on the base, which I topped with the optional mozzarella for maximum cheese. Red potatoes and sliced shiitake mushrooms make up the rest. I skipped the truffle oil garnish.
Rating: :)



Sweet Potato and Kale Pizza: Some more smoky white cheese sauce in the mix here, along with baby kale leaves and sweet potatoes. Slice more sweet potatoes that you think you will need as it shrinks down quite a bit.
Rating: :)



Broccoli and Cheddar Pizza: Broccoli and cheese is a classic combination, but this time it is on a pizza. A combination of an amazing cashew cheddar cheese sauce and grated cheddar cheese make this super cheddary.
Rating: :)



Chili Mac Pizza: This says to use 10oz cooked macaroni so I started with 8oz uncooked, though I didn't use it all on the pizza. The macaroni is mixed with a cashew creamy cheese sauce. I used a tin of Amy chili here that I had kicking around in the cupboard.
Rating: :)



Cowboy Pizza: BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, sweet and smoky soy curls, broccoli, jalapenos and coriander make for a pretty tasty pizza.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



What is better than a pizza party? A basket full of kittens! These are three girls available for adoption at the moment. Mia is the sassy tortie at the front, with Polly next to her, and sweet little Precious peeking over from behind. Love these girls!

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Lunch Box

Several years ago, the blog Vegan Lunch Box was all the rage, and the book Vegan Lunch Box was released. It was full of cute lunchbox menus and spawned a wild craze for adorable bento-style lunch boxes. I don't really have such an adorable lunchbox system, but I make do with various containers around my house. I should note that these menus were designed for a school day, my work days are considerably longer, so I often had to add extra snacks.

Quick & Easy Menu Page 28

• Nut Butter & Jelly Cut-Outs
• Banana
• Carrot and Celery Sticks
• Easy Ranch Dip
• Soy Smoothie

I skipped the fun-cut option for my PB&J (strawberry jam is always my choice) and took it as a regular sandwich. The ranch dip was a bit meh and runny if you use all the soy milk. And I took a mango smoothie that I made at home.
Rating: Overall :), Dip :|

Quick & Easy Menu Page 36

• Bagel with Cream Cheese
• Green Beans and Carrots in a Tarragon Vinaigrette
• Red grapes
• Animal crackers

This was meant to be mini-bagels, but again I went with a full sized bagel slathered with Tofutti cream cheese. The carrots and beans had a bright, tangy dressing which were nice with the bagel. The animal crackers were an accidentally vegan brand that I bought, but I can't remember what they were!
Rating: Overall :), Beans and Carrots :)

Quick & Easy Menu Page 46

• Veggie Burger
• Sweet Potato Oven Fries
• Wheat-Free Apple Crisp
• Extra snack: Carrot sticks and hummus

The veggie burger is a construct of pre-purchased goodies - a Fry's burger patty, Toffuti cheese slice, soy mayo and salad. I love the sweet potato fries on the side, they include garlic powder that gives a great flavour. The crisp was nice, but there are nicer topping recipes out there. I added an extra snack for this. It was also meant to have amazake as a beverage, but I couldn't find any.
Rating: Overall :), Burger :), Fries :D, Crisp :)

Ready & Waiting Menu Page 145

• Veggie Tea Sandwiches
• Blueberry Lemon Mini-Scones
• Fresh strawberries and purple grapes
• Kid's Iced Tea

The book gives a range of filling choices for your dainty tea sandwiches - I used cucumber, cream cheese and dill and also Nuttelex, radish and salt. I love little tea sandwiches! The scones are super quick to make and super delicious to eat! The iced tea is a combination of apple juice (make sure to get cloudy!) and tea - I used the Red Green Dreamy mix from T2. I skipped the sugar.
Rating: Overall :D, Sandwiches :), Scones :D, Tea :)

Ready & Waiting Menu Page 151

• Pizza Shop Breadsticks
• Sneaky Momma's Tomato Sauce for Dipping
• Frozen vegetable and bean medley
• Fresh blueberries and plums

The breadsticks are made from scratch, and they are twirled around a filling of nooch, sesame seeds, salt, garlic and granules. The sauce is nice, with basil, kale and carrots in it. It is meant to be blended until smooth, but as I don't need to hide my vegetables I left it chunky. The medley was literally some four bean mix and some frozen peas and corn (they thaw for a pretty delicious snacks).
Rating: Overall :), Breadsticks :), Sauce :)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I know you want to see more of Abbey in her birthday hat!