Recently I have been developing a pain in my upper right abdomen after each meal. Not certain if its from whey protein, dairy, or if its my gallbladder. SOOoo.. This is an excuse for me to do another food challenge by going vegan for an entire week...so far I am loving it! Doing this for a week is really introducing me to some different items like tempeh and tofu; two things I didn't eat often. I love exploring new tastes and trying new foods. The vegan diet isn't something I would do for a long duration because I truly believe our bodies shouldn't consume high amounts of soy due to the high content of phytoestrogens and their effects on the endocrine system; however, a week of a plant based diet can be a good thing for the belly.
While browsing the internet for vegan recipes I ran across this gem pizza crust recipe which is fantastic. The crust is made from oats, sweet potatoes, and almond meal making it %100 gluten free! Boo yeah! Sweet potatoes paired with oat flour are high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber making them a great for regulating insulin levels. This is so much better for you than bleached all-purpose flour that is in a typical pizza crust! The crust had a sweet taste to it with a light garlic flavor. Sounds like a weird combination but I loved it! I went out on a whim with my own toppings and used vegan pizza sauce, cherry tomatoes, spinach, basil from my herb garden, red onion, mushrooms, vegan cheese, and sautéed garlic in oil :) The garlic and the fresh basil from my herb garden is what made this pizza along with the crust! If you're not feeling the margherita style toppings, I think a BBQ style chicken pizza would be fantastic as well. If you're vegan you could use tempeh instead of the chicken done in a sweet BBQ sauce! Im drooling over this idea! Or even the traditional toppings would work!
INGREDIENTS
2 C sweet potato puree ( two large baked sweet potatoes)
1 1/4 cup of Oat flour + 2 T for rolling
1/4 cup Almond meal
1 T Chia seeds ( or an egg if you're not vegan)
3 T water
1 T olive oil
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 bulb of garlic
tsp basil
tsp oregano
Olive oil for roasting of garlic
1/2 tsp sea or himalayan salt
Toppings of choice
I started off by preheating my oven to 400 degrees. The recipe will make one large 8 cut pizza or two medium personal pan pizzas. Luckily when I made this I already had two roasted sweet potatoes which worked in my favor because I was hangry and did not want to have to wait to bake some! Start off by poking your sweet potatoes with a fork and wrapping in foil. Then place in the oven and let bake for at least an hour. I like to let mine roast until they are quite mushy. Next, prepare your garlic by cutting off the top to expose the cloves. Drizzle the top with olive oil and wrap in foil. Bake until the cloves are tender. If you don't like garlic you can omit the garlic from the recipe. Once the potatoes and garlic are done remove them from the oven and allow to cool. If you are using a pizza stone, now would be a good time to allow it to heat in the oven.
Now for the preparation of the crust, I used my Ninja. This allowed me to incorporate the skin of the sweet potatoes in the crust for more nutrition. If you don't have a high speed food processor you can use a regular bowl and mix with your hands. Just scoop the sweet potato out of the skin.
First you will want to combine the chia seed and the water to create a chia egg. This will bind your crust. If you aren't vegan you could substitute a regular egg here.
For the crust: combine the sweet potato, 1 1/2 cups of oat flour, and almond meal. Add in 3 cloves of the roasted garlic, apple cider vinegar, oil, salt, oregano, and basil. Blend until all incorporated. The dough will be quite sticky so this is why its important to have some extra oat flour for dusting and to cover your hands. Also, Make sure you have a good non stick pizza pan or pizza stone. Next scoop the dough onto a well greased pizza pan. The dough will be sticky! I sprayed my pan with coconut oil. If you are using a pizza stone, allow it to heat and get warm in the oven and shape your curst on parchment paper. Now because the dough is sticky dust it with the remains 2 T of oat flour so you can work with it. You can also dust your hands in it as well! Believe it or not it actually looks like a crust!
Once your crust is formed like in the picture below place it in the oven to bake for about 30-40 minutes. Until the edges are slightly brown.
Next is the fun part! Pick your toppings! I decided to do mushrooms, basil, spinach, vegan cheese, red onion, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and roasted garlic! I think a BBQ sauce with chicken, onion, and pineapple would go fantastic on this beauty! If you would like to do the same toppings, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and throw in some sliced garlic until slightly brown. Don't over cook the garlic or it will get really bitter and nasty! Just cook it until golden. Drizzle over your pizza toppings :)
SO at this point I took a couple minutes to send a few snapchats to my friends. Everyone snapped back with jealousy which they should have been! Next, bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese is slightly brown and bubbly! When done, allow to rest and cool for 10 minutes. This will be difficult because your kitchen is going to smell like sweet garlic! While waiting I took a few selfies with the pizza and snap chatted it to everyone. The responses I got were " that looks like real pizza", " Coming over for a pizza date". Once cooled cut into 8 slices. One serving is 2 slices. Enjoy this nutrient packed beast of pizza!
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~ INSTRUCTIONS ~
- Prepare baked sweet potatoes and roasted garlic. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork and wrap in foil. For the roasted garlic chop the top off of the bulb to expose the cloves. Drizzle with some olive oil and wrap in foil. Bake the potatoes ( ~ an hour) until very soft and the garlic ( ~40 minutes) until tender. Remove and allow to cool. If using a pizza stone allow it to preheat.
- Place the chia seeds in water for about 10 minutes to create a gelatin " chia egg" . If dairy is in your diet you can use an egg instead
- Combine the sweet potato, 1 1/2 cups of oat flour, and almond meal in a food processor. You can use a mixing bowl just don't use the skin of the potato.
- Once the flour and potato are combined, add in the garlic, oil, chia egg, salt, oregano, and basil and blend until all incorporated.
- Spray down a good non stick pizza pan with olive oil or coconut oil spray. Scoop dough onto pan. This will be sticky so dust the dough and your hands with the remaining 2 T of oat flour.
- Shape the dough into a crust and bake in oven for 30-40 minutes until the edges are golden and the crust is set.
- Top with desired toppings
- Place back in oven until cheese is golden. About 10-15 more minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool. Once cool cut into 8 slices. YUMM!!
- Take pictures and share with the world! Enjoy:)
Serves: 4
Serving size: 2 slices
Prep time: 1 hour to roast potatoes and garlic + 15 minutes to prepare crust
Cook time: 50 minutes to an hour
Nutrition ( crust only): 390 calories, 11g fat, 58g carbs, 13g protein, 8g fiber
Vitamins: 372% vitamin A, 22 % iron, 10% calcium, 10 % vitamin C
