Vegan Pizza, Baby!

     Pizza has always been one of my favorite foods and prior to this month we typically ate it once a week.  Whether we ordered out, popped a frozen one in the oven, or put one together ourselves with a store- bought crust and sauce from a jar, it somehow made its way to our table on a weekly basis.  Although I had no problem abstaining from having meat on the pizza, I always thoroughly enjoyed the cheese.  Let's face it:  it's the cheese that makes a pizza.

    This is why the term "vegan pizza" seemed like an oxymoron and I was skeptical in making one.  Well let me tell you that Thursday I became a believer.  I learned a few things in the process of creating a vegan pizza.  The first thing I learned was just how important the crust is.  You see, when the crust was drown in all that goozy, sticky cheese it completely took over the pizza.  Without the cheese, the crust can shine.  For the first time I made my own crust (using a very simple recipe from 1,000 Vegan recipes) and I will never buy another Boboli crust.  This crust was fantastic.  I always assumed making your own crust must be a labor intensive process that I didn't have time for, but it really wasn't.  Mix a few ingredients and a packet of yeast together, let it rise for an hour, flatten it out, and you're good to go.  I also made my own sauce (also very good--another 1,000 Vegan Recipes star) and then topped it with a few sauteed veggies (zucchini and red peppers).  I have some leftover sauce and will be making another one of these babies this week.  It was that good.  When I finished it I said something that I never fathomed I would say:  "I didn't even miss the cheese".