Let the Rawvolution begin!

Alright folks, sorry for the hiatus! While I have done nothing it seems but cook and experiment with new recipes these past few months, I havent managed to write any of them down! So here is my first of a long over due series of new things to love and new recipes to try that'll knock your socks off! I promise to try and be good and write more often now, but I cant promise anything. My dad wants me to come work for him part time as a secretary, I teach gradeschoolers science in the afternoons, spend my weekends cashiering and to top it off my brother really wants to start up an online vegan-gf-sf-cookie line with him! Phew...just thinking about it all makes me tired, dont worry though, I wont keep all my cookie recipes a secret ;p.

Lately, I have been more than a little obsessed with raw food! Hold on don't run away just yet! No worries, I was scared too. My sister gave me a book recently with a bunch of recipes, claiming they were just “too complicated.” I ignored it for awhile, that's all I needed, more complication in my life. But then one day in a fit of boredom I decided to crack the cover. Inside were some intriguing sounding recipes made from super simple ingredients that I could get at my local farmers market every Sunday. And the best part was, all you really have to do to many raw recipes is prep work! No waiting for something to bake or cook or rise! Just rinse, chop, assemble! Bryan has been especially obsessed with the various nut cheeses! Some sadly you need a dehydrator for (Saving my pennies, thinking ill buy one as a christmas present to myself :p), but many are super yummy left in their uncooked state! The following recipe is a pizza topped with a pumpkin seed cheese/pesto that I modified to suit my tastes better from a raw cookbook I have. I cheat and it does end up getting cooked but believe me, its the best pizza topping i've ever had! (Note that the picture below only has half a pizza in it...its that good I was too impatient to not eat some before snapping a photo) Hope you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Cheese Super Green Pizza!

Crust:

1 Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free pizza crust mix (or any gf pizza dough you prefer, this is just my fav, and you get 2 doughs in one mix!)

2tbsp flax meal

Fresh herbs from your garden! (optional)

Cheese:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 handful fresh basil leaves

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

2tsp minced garlic

1tsp minced jalapeno

1tsp minced ginger

salt and pepper

Toppings:

4 Kale leaves chopped into small pieces or strips

1 handful spinach leaves chopped

¼ cup sundried tomatoes packed in oil

¼ of a red onion sliced into thin strips

(also feel free to add mushrooms and asparagus or whatever else your little heart desires!!! I like to pile all my end of the week veggies on my pizza before I go get fresh stuff at the weekend farmers market!)

1) Make the pizza dough (making sure to use the flax seed to substitute the eggs), mix the fresh herbs into the dough, and let rise. Preheat oven to 425. At the same time as the dough is rising you should be,soaking the pumpkin seeds in water for 15mins. During this time I would chop up all my veggies for the pizza!!

2) Once seeds are ready drain them of the water and add to a food processor. Add in basil, lemon juice, garlic, jalapeno, ginger and seasonings. Keep pulsing and scraping down the sides until you have a very smooth paste.

3)Now roll half your dough out onto a well oiled cookie sheet (save the other half for another pizza night, or some breadsticks!!!) It helps to have very wet hands when handling the dough to get it to stretch out further. Pre-bake crust 7 minutes.

4)Once crust is half baked spread on all of cheese with a spatula until nicely coated with green goodness! Cover with toppings and cook an additional 10-15minutes or until crust is fully baked!!

I hope you enjoy this pizza as much as I do, its become a staple around here now! The cheese is also good as just a spread, and uncooked pumpkin seeds are actually super beneficial for brain function! Ummm brain food.....

Pizza!

Okay, so i'd love to take all the credit for this yummy pizza, but really I owe it all to Bob's Redmill! But still the combination of ingredients is so delish I even have had non vegans at my house opting to eat this beautiful looking pizza instead of the Dominos my roommates had ordered. Obviously you can just follow the crust directions and add whatever you want, but I like my combo ;p If you skip the cheese its still super tastey and soy free (If you do skip the cheese id recommended adding a few cooked chickpeas to give it more umph)

Jane's GF Vegan Pizza

Makes one small pizza (the crust mix actually has enough to make 2 pizzas though or one giant, feel free to double up on the toppings and make more than one!)

1pckg Bob's Redmill GF Pizza crust mix

1 pckg Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella cheese (optional)

2-4 handfuls of fresh baby spinach

1/2 bell pepper diced

1/4 red onion sliced thinly into strips

1/2 cup button mushrooms sliced thin

1/2 cup diced artichoke hearts

1/2 cup olives sliced (any kind you like)

2 tblsp flax meal

1/2 cup tomato sauce (or pasta sauce, I used safeway select onion and olive pasta sauce)

Follow the directions on the pizza crust mix, making sure to give the dough time to rise and also making certain to pre cook the dough! This step will make sure your crust gets completely cooked (those of you who cook gluten free know this is a constant issue with gluten free dough) I also found it was easier to shape dough if I kept soaking my hands in water.

Top with sauce. Then add spinach, then other toppings. Finally top cheese on top (you dont even need 1/3 of the brick of vegan gourmet to cover the small pizza but if you're a huge cheese fanatic go right ahead. I used very little cheese and saved the rest for pasta the next day and a second pizza)

Cook pizza about 15-20 minutes. Finally, to get that fussy soy cheese to melt stick it under the broiler for like 3o seconds or until the cheese really gets bubbling and browns a bit!!

Yummy! Curl up with a jack n coke and your favorite movie and enjoy a guilt free slice, or two, or five!!