June 5, 2012

When The Moon Hits Your Eye...

...Like A Big Pizza Pie...

I love pizza. A perfect slice of pizza has it all - fresh crust, delicious sauce, perfectly melted cheese, and carefully selected toppings. I'd never turn my head from a good slice of pizza even though I always got this awful heavy, sluggish feeling when I ate it.

I've been eating a raw vegan diet for several weeks now but I still occasionally crave a slice of pizza when I see it or smell it. On the other hand, I immediately and vividly recall how it makes me feel after I eat it.

I'm listening to my body more and I'm still learning to stay away from foods that do not make me feel good and are not good for my health. For me, eating cooked processed foods doesn't make me feel good at all. I would get the same feeling from smoking a cigarette or doing drugs. In my mind, there is no difference. I no longer consider going back on my health; my health is one of my most precious gifts.

That being said, I decided to make my own pizza. This is not your classic pizza with tomato sauce, oregano, mushrooms, pepperoni, bacon, onions, green peppers, and mozzarella cheese. This is raw pizza with a blended homemade tomato sauce, jalapeno nut meat, marinated vegetables, and a basil macadamia nut cheeze.

It is also so simple and fun to make with minimal preparation. You can make the crust round, square or anyway you like. Top it with your choice of toppings: pineapple, onion, peppers, zucchini, hummus, spinach, or sprouts. Blend the sauce, then the cheese with nuts or seeds.

Pizza Crust
1 cup ground flax seeds
1/3 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 garlic clove, minced
2 TBSP yellow onion, chopped
1 1/3 cups water
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Mix ground and whole flax seeds, salt, garlic, onion, and water. Add sunflower and sesame seeds. Mix well.

Use the back of a spoon to spread batter evenly on one dehydrator tray. Dry at 104°F for about 4 hours. Flip and score into nine slices to make it easy to break. Dehydrate another hour before serving. Serve warm.

Note-This recipe will fill one Excalibur dehydrator tray, and yields nine pieces. I recommend tripling or even quadrupling your batch. It makes for some great crackers too. It will keep for at least a month or two when fully dried. Keep refrigerated.

Jalapeno Nut Meat

1 Jalapeno, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 cup walnuts, soaked 4 hrs (optional)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until very soft. Reserve 1/8 cup tomato soak water
1 TBSP Nama Shoyu or Bragg's Liquid Amino
1 tsp Herbamare or other seasonings
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

In a food processor, combine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and soaking water until you reach a meat consistency. Remove from processor.

In a mixing bowl, add nut meat, onions, jalapeno, Nama Shoyu, Herbamare or other seasonings, sea salt and black pepper.

Use instead of meat on pizza and sandwiches, or straight up out of the bowl. It's delicious! You can also shape this mixture into patties for burgers.

Option-Dehydrate at 115°F for about 1 hour.

Tomato Sauce

1 cup fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 garlic clove
1 TBSP olive oil
4 pitted dates or 1 tsp honey
sea salt, to taste
Chop the fresh tomatoes, put them in your high speed blender with the remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth.

Basil Macadamia Nut Cheeze

2 cups macadamia nuts
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup water, as needed

Blend nuts, lemon juice, garlic, basil, and salt until smooth, adding only enough water as needed to make a smooth creamy texture.

Will keep in the fridge for 4 days.

Marinated Veggies

Red & Yellow Bell Pepper Slices
Sliced Mushrooms
Spinach, sliced in strips
Fennel, thinly sliced
Zucchini
Cucumber
Sprouts

Toss veggies with equal parts olive oil, tamari, and crushed garlic.

That's Amoré

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