Birth of a Vegan Pizza

Steve and I made a vegan pizza last night. It's one of our favorite meals-- and one of my favorites after a long run. Though my "long" run this week is a mere six miles (I'm still nursing that foot injury) I thought it bad form to deviate too much from tradition.  And so I thought I'd document the "birth" of the most delicious vegan pizza I've had from the assembly of ingredients, through the preparation which leads to the beautiful final project. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed the pizza. :)

*  

Here are the "fresh" ingredients that are chopped, but that are placed on the pizza last (save for the lemon. That was for the pesto sauce.) I usually chop these first, just to have the task out of the way so I can move on to the more "demanding" steps which follow.

Here's the pesto sauce I make from scratch. In lieu of pine nuts (which are too expensive), I use walnuts from my dad's orchard in this pesto sauce. I also up the amounts of basil and garlic. The secret ingredient? A dash of cayenne pepper for a mild punch. Trust me: it's delish.

The cooked toppings. Tonight we used sliced mushrooms, chopped red bell pepper and elephant garlic that had been chopped then roasted for around 10 minutes in the oven before being added to this mixture.

Then we added spinach to the mix, for some extra iron and greens... 

...and sautéed until it wilted.

Here's our crust. It was actually made from scratch, but from a previous pizza (we made enough dough for two pizzas and saved half.) So Steve took the dough from the fridge, shaped it to the pan and baked  it for ten minutes to render this gorgeous crust ready for the toppings we'd prepared.

First, we put a hearty layer of pesto on the baked crust and put the pizza back in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes.

When the pesto is completely spread over the crust we put on the sautéed ingredients. Then, it's back in the oven for a few moments. We do this to keep the pizza from getting "mushy". 

I almost forgot. No pizza can be made without a glass of red wine. :)

Next, the pizza gets the "veggie shreds" (a vegetable-based cheese alternative) and the sliced black olives. Then, you guessed it, another foray in the oven for Ms. Pizza.

Here it is, completely baked and ready for the chopped tomato and basil. 

Here's the finished pizza close up....

far away...

...and on my plate.