Monday, July 24, 2006

Sneaky-Pete Pizza

I made pizza tonight! Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. A few exciting things about it:

1. This was my first time ever using vegan cheese (Follow Your Heart Mozzarella), and it worked out pretty well! I shredded the whole package, then split it in two and froze half for another day. (I hope this works.) It melted nicely in the oven, then I broiled it for about a minute and a half to brown it. It does taste pretty good, but it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing. Alas.

2. Inspired by some reading I did in a food magazine, I made a "special sauce" for my pizza -- half canned pumpkin and half Muir Glen organic fire-roasted tomato sauce, with a few dashes each of garlic salt and Italian seasoning to punch it up a bit. For someone who doesn't much care for tomato sauce on her pizza, I REALLY like the pumpkin-tomato combo. You can't taste the pumpkin at all -- it's just not as intense as traditional tomato sauce. (Maybe good for kids, too?) A sneaky way to get orange veggies into my diet!

3. I made my own crust (of course,) and topped it with artichokes, mushrooms, and broccoli! Wooo-eee! I also nailed down times and temperatures for the cookbook. ;-)

I'm almost finished with my second piece, and I may need a third, it's that good!

What do you think of "Sneaky-Pete Pizza" as a potential recipe title?

14 comments:

Crystal said...

Who's Pete?? Just kidding! I think it's a great name and true to it's function.

Good for you on making your own crust - I have not mastered crust making yet. Not that I've tried a whole bunch, but from the times I have tried...it just isn't my thing yet.

-Crystal

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

love the idea of sneaking some pumpkin in my kids' bellies! very cute title. :o)

looking forward to your reaction on Friday...

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

Pumpkin tomato sauce - holy smokes that sounds awesome. If you try more with these flavors let us know! And totally put it in the cookbook!

And the FYH frozen will be a little different but will still totally work.

Crystal said...

Catherine - I saw on Vicki's blog that you are going to see Inconvenient Truth - where is it playing?

-Crystal

MeloMeals said...

Love the title..

You know, I really loved cheese.. I mean , loved it.. now that I've been totally vegan for several months, I find that FYH tastes the same as cheese used to on pizza and in other dishes.. (melted) and that I can hit many of the flavor notes with the mock cheeses (Tweaking them big time to my own liking).. I never thought it would be possible..

Dori said...

Interesting pumpkin tomato sauce for your pizza. Who is sneaky-pete?

Dori said...

peter pumpkin eater.... took me a second, I get it. Good title.

funwithyourfood said...

that sounds like a great idea. Im a big fan of adding something healthy without letting someone know

Teddy

Catherine Weber said...

Crystal, I'd be happy to teach you how to make pizza crust sometime! Yeast breads are a bit tricky, but easy as anything once you get the hang of them!

Vicki, you'll have to tell me how the "Sneaky Pete" sauce goes over. I've thought it might be good over pasta, too! And I'm anxiously awaiting Friday night, so I can finally see "An Inconvenient Truth."

Jess, I'm thinking about trying a mix of pumpkin and pasta sauce over pasta, just to see if I like it! And thanks for the heads up about the FYH.

RK, the pizza recipe is definitely going in -- including the homemade crust!

Melody, I really do think FYH is pretty good -- as I told one of my omnivorous friends, it tastes really good, but it doesn't really taste like mozzarella. She tasted some, and agreed. I'd definitely buy it again, and save the actual cheese consumption for the occasional dining out experience.

Dori, I never thought of "Sneaky Pete" in that way! I always just called kids "Sneaky Pete" when they were being sneaky. That could be where the phrase came from!

Teddy, the added bonus of the pumpkin (well, despite all of the great vitamins and stuff) is a less-intense tomato sauce. Good for people with slightly more conservative palates, like me, and perhaps those with reflux issues?

Carrie™ said...

That sounds rockin' Catherine. Another vote for it to included in the cookbook. If I'm making pizza from scratch, I make my own crust. Just plan ahead because you know it's going to be a while until dinner's ready.
I still eat cheese. It's so tough for me to let that go. I tried FYH and found it worked well on pizza. I didn't like it much after it was frozen and as for just eating some on crackers....UH Forget it! But for melty things, it's almost as good as the real thing. Best that's out there so far. And who knows...I'm sure someone is perfecting a new "cheese" product as we speak.

KleoPatra said...

Sneaky Pete... that's funny (my best bud's Peter! i'll have to run that by him)...

I am all about pizza. Making yer own crust, you star you. I would totally do what you did and throw on some goodies like mushrooms and artichoke hearts!

I can't imagine a tomato sauce combined with canned pumpkin for the special sauce. What a GREAT and healthy idea!

Mozzarella cheese is the last milk product i have yet to give up... i'm working on it!!

Harmonia said...

I wish we had that brand here...but then again I wish we had many veg*n alternatives here...

I'm going to go sit in the corner and cry now.

lol

Catherine Weber said...

Carrie, I must have my pizza-making timed just right, but I make the crust first, and by the time I have all of the toppings prepped, it's usually risen plenty! I can get a homemade pizza in and out of the oven in under an hour. Better than delivery, if you ask me! And, I eat cheese, too -- not at home, though. Sometimes, I'm out with friends and hungry and desperate! Oh yeah -- and cheese tastes REALLY good.

Kleo, my mushrooms and artichokes were great, but I kind of skimped on the toppings! I should have put twice as many veggies on. :)

Harmonia, here's a hankie. Sorry your neck of the woods isn't very veggie-friendly!

Anonymous said...

Sneaky-Pete is a great name! LOVE Dori's take on it. I never would have come up with that. This sounds delicious too by the way. Bet it would also be good on pasta.