Build Your Own Veggie Pizza Night

After a long week and crazy holiday, the kids and I decided that a simple build-your-own pizza night was in order. 

Actually, I decided it. They're 4 and 3 and really have no say in these things.

Pizza is an easy crowd pleaser and gives me a chance to look like a super creative, Pinterest type of mom with truly minimal effort when I let everyone make their own. Plus, being in a vegan/omni blended household it gives everyone the chance to tailor their dinner to their likes and affords me the luxury of cooking one meal. 

Sold!

I'm fortunate in that my kids like most vegetables. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we've inundated them with veggies from the moment that they could eat and never officially took no for an answer when they said they didn't like something. We never forced it, but we'd wait a bit and then reintroduce the vegetable that was rejected again. Sometimes it took quite a few exposures, but eventually both of my kids got over any aversions they had and will eat almost anything. Except avocado. They both just hate it. I try to pretend that it doesn't cut a little piece of my soul out every time.

So with that green little object of monounsaturated lusciousness off of the toppings list, I set about prepping the veggies.

My son is a pepper burglar.

We all seem to agree on peppers of every color that we can afford (thank you Sprout's and your 4/$5 price on colored peppers!), tomatoes, mushrooms and onions. I need to be quick around here, as you can tell from the picture, if I actually want to get the toppings on the pizza before they disappear. I typically go with mushrooms that are already pre-sliced to speed things along and then I do a dicing technique for the onion that my mother taught me and now, through the wonders of the internet, I will teach you.

First and foremost, if you have the time to refrigerate your onion before slicing and dicing it, do. It will drastically reduce if not completely eliminate your sudden transformation into the Leave Britney Alone kid.

Room temperature Vidalias are sooooo ouchy

Next, cut the top of the onion off to make a flat surface and start scoring the onion with vertical cuts. Don't cut all the way through, you want the onion to stay together.

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Then, turn your onion so that the vertical slices are horizontal. Now, make vertical slices all over again so that the top of the onion starts to look like a checker board.

How closely you space the slices will decide how large or small your dice will be. Also, how deeply you go will dictate how much onion you end up with. Want half an onion? Only cut half of the way down with your slices. 

Once you've scored the top of the onion, put it up on its side and, being very careful to avoid your fingers, start slicing it from the top as if you were going to cut it into slices.

 

I like this because it's how I like my women. Easy and Fast. (....I really don't know why I just said that.)

With all of the veggies prepped, it was time to put the toppings on. I started everyone out with a pita as the crust because, you know, easy. I toasted them on a lo broil in the oven just until they were a little browned. Once the toppings go on, the pizza tends to end up a bit soggy if you avoid this step so I highly recommend it. Next, I put a little sauce on and then I let the kids loose.

All Top Chef Pizza Edition contestants need to start somewhere

The kids had a great time putting their toppings on, which became very serious business with each pepper and chunk of mushroom finding strategic placement on the surface of the pie. I took this opportunity of deep culinary concentration to top my own pizza.

So much better than store bought

I went with Daiya cheese on mine instead of nutritional yeast or cashew cheese because I'd recently tried the new Daiya Fire Roasted Vegetable pizza and was under impressed. Don't get me wrong, it was good. But the serving was too small for the calories investment to actually fill anyone up and the amount of veggies that actually came on the pizza were few and tiny. I know it makes me a whack job, but I like veggies on my veggie pizza. As I ate the thing my immediate thought was, "I can do better" causing me to think from that moment forward of the pre-made Daiya pizza as the bad ex-boyfriend of dinnertime selections.

I'm trying to keep the slightly charred part of the crust out of the picture

I put it under the broiler for a few minutes and just kept my eye on it. I wanted the Daiya to brown up a bit, but alas I kinda burned my crust a little on one side waiting for that to happen. Once the cheese starts to flatten out and melt together a bit, it's pretty much done. 

My son is super stoked in the background

I hate to be a know-it-all (haha, no I don't), but I have to say I was totally right. This pizza, filled with conveniences like jarred marinara sauce, a pita for crust, pre-sliced mushrooms and Daiya cheese, was way better than the boxed version and nearly as fast. Roasting the veggies ahead of time, making a homemade dough and using a truly premium sauce or vegan pesto would take this over the top, but I wanted something fast and effortless that the whole family would like. It not only fit that bill, but was thoroughly tasty too. My daughter is requesting that Build Your Own Veggie Pizza Night be a weekly thing and I'm perfectly happy to pencil that in!