I’m joining Tina and Deborah for Meatless Monday, and sharing some of my favorite recipes.
Now that I’m (temporarily) not training for anything (except life, you know), I decided to join in the link up fun.
Speaking of training (sorry, can’t help myself), after taking a long recovery week, getting reacquainted with my foam roller, and, well, Aleve, my back is feeling much better and I’m ready to get running again. This past week consisted of a three mile run on Wednesday, and a two mile run with my dogs on Sunday, so you can see I take my recovery seriously. Oh, I also got in a TRX workout and spent some time on the Pilates reformer.
Back to Meatless Monday. Today I’d like to share one of my all time favorites dishes, Pesto Pizza.
Vegan Pesto Pizza
Before you can make pesto pizza, you need to make some vegan pesto! Regular pesto recipes include cheese of course, but I assure you that you can take the cheese out and it still tastes great. In this recipe, I used nutritional yeast to add a little cheesy taste and texture, but I have also made pesto without it and it was very good.
Vegan Pesto
2 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup pine nuts (walnuts work too)
2-4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
Add the basil, pine nuts, garlic and nutritional yeast to a food processor. Process until just roughly chopped. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Process until thoroughly mixed.
Now that you’ve made the pesto, let’s put that pizza together.
Vegan Pesto Pizza
- Pre-made (vegan) pizza crust. I used one from Trader Joes
- ½ cup pesto sauce
- 2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
- ½ cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese (I used Daiya)
- Any additional favorite toppings of your choice
- Preheat oven and pizza stone or pan to 450
- Roll out your pizza dough to desired thickness
- Transfer the pizza to your preheated stone/pan
- Spread on the pesto evenly
- Add a layer of tomatoes
- Sprinkle on the cheese
- Add the mushrooms
- Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing.
I think this may be one of my favorite pizza creations ever! Of course, feel free to add your own toppings. I’m just a mushroom pizza addict, though I did add some caramelized onion to this one. Extra basil, faux meat, other veggies would all be great additions.
Do you make your own pizza or order out? What are your favorite pizza toppings? And oh, if you didn’t get enough doggy cuteness above, here’s Coco to fill you to the brim:
all the variations look delish, but I am LOVING that tomato one!
They’re actually layers. The far right picture has all the layers.
That pizza and pesto looks amazing! Now I’m hungry! We usually order out for pizza but I do love making pizza at home too. It’s so fun to play around with the flavors and toppings!
I like to play around with flavors too, but I always end up with a mushroom pizza 🙂
is it wrong I LOVE YOU MOST for starting with a premade crust?! 🙂
That’s my little bit of #WYCWYC 🙂
this sounds aaahhhhmazing! Right up my alley….not sure if you say that here, but we do in England 😉 I love pesto, and I LOVE that you are joining us. Keep those spirits high my friend, and I am always here for you if you want to vent, I have had my share of injuries!
Yes, we do say right up my alley. We probably stole it from the Brits 🙂
I’m actually feeling pretty good. I really have done more than my share of marathons, though I do think this is my first DNS. That’s okay though. Respect your body and it will respect you. Or something like that.
I absolutely love pesto but always forget to add it to pizza. This looks so good!
It’s great on pizza (obviously or I wouldn’t have dedicated a blog post to it 🙂 ).
Yum! I’ve been craving vegan pizza and have never made it with pesto. I think I’m going to make it today. Thanks!
It is soooo good with pesto. I actually ate the two leftover pieces the next day. Cold 🙂
Glad your back is feeling better! This pizza looks great. I haven’t made pesto in a while I need to check this out. Thanks for linking up with us today for MM.
Thank you. I have ongoing issues with my back, but at least it’s feeling better for now. Thanks for hosting the linkup!
Delicious! I love pesto, but it doesn’t really love me (all the oil). But if I make my own, then this pizza is ON!
It’s pretty easy and you can really control the amount of oil when you make your own.
This looks and sounds delicious!!
Thanks Sarah!
This looks perfect! It’s been way too long since I’ve made pesto and the herbs are perfect this time of year.
They are! I just bought a new basil plant from Trader Joes! And I haven’t killed it yet!
That looks delicious!! Nothing beats fresh pesto from living basil!!
I love pesto. I never used to make it myself but it’s so easy!
I love the sweet animals you have – 🙂
Thanks Jody. Though they’re not always that sweet 🙂