Remember the days before awesome vegan cheese? When you were mocked at every turn by faux-ass non-vegan soy cheese? Or the days of terrible vegan cheese perhaps? After myriad pizza disasters, Amy and I discovered that just leaving out the cheese could be awesome--especially if you leave out the processed sauce and use fresh tomatoes.

This li'l guy has way more in common with the thin, fresh Italian-style Pizza Marinara than with traditional American pizza (except Pizza Marinara usually has--not surprisingly--sauce). This is a really nice break from standard pizza--it totally scratches the pizza itch, but is much lighter and fresher, without any processed ingredients.

We used:

  • 3 tomatoes, de-boogered and sliced thinly
  • 4 cloves of diced garlic
  • 1/2 a zucchini, sliced into thin half-moons
  • a handful of crimini mushrooms, sliced thinly
  • a handful of spinach, diced
  • a small handful of fresh basil, diced
  • 1/8 - 1/4 purple onion, sliced thinly and chopped
  • oregano
  • thyme
  • salt & pepper
  • pizza crust of choice

So that last one is a bit of a cop out. We would love to know your pizza crust of choice, as we've had mixed luck with lots of crusts and have yet to settle on one we really love. While the one we used for this recipe turned out pretty tasty with a lot of doctoring, it was so far off the mark in its original form that I'd be hard pressed to tell you how to replicate it (add way more flour, for one). Now is the time to give back: share your favorite crust recipes!

Meanwhile, salivate: