Mediterranean Hummus Pizza

A few years back,  I managed to convince my Pampered Chef consultant and friend to do an all-vegan Pampered Chef party at our home. Very few of the Pampered Chef recipes are actually vegan in their original state, BUT we managed to fine some contenders. And, with only a few simple tweaks or omissions, we pulled off cruelty-free vegan goodness, and quite well, too.

Still to this day, one of my favorite recipes was the Mediterranean Hummus Pizza, which, as you can see, is a virtual rainbow of vegan fun! It’s fresh and delicious, especially if you are in the mood for pizza, but don’t want something really heavy.

The basic recipe that I follow is below, but there is room for great improvisation here, which makes it all the more fun:

Crust
1   half recipe of whole wheat pizza dough (Julie Hasson's from Vegan Pizza)
1   tablespoon olive oil, for brushing
1   garlic clove, pressed
oregano, salt and pepper to taste

Toppings
15  grape tomatoes, halved
1/4   medium red onion, finely chopped
2 baby cucumbers, halved and chopped
1/2   cup pitted kalamata olives
1   container (7 ounces) plain hummus spread (roasted red pepper is great, too)
1/2 cup each diced bell pepper (I had yellow and green this time)
OR
2   jars (6-7.5 ounces each) quartered marinated artichoke hearts, drained

*some swaps that work well too:  roasted red peppers, tofu feta cheese, scallions, vegan tzatsiki, fresh basil for garnish

First we are going to bake the crust. Preheat a pizza stone in your oven at 425 for 30 minutes. I actually cook this crust at a little lower heat than my usual pizza with toppings.

Roll out you dough on some parchment paper into a 12" circle. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle on the garlic or powder, then some oregano, salt and pepper. Sometimes I will add some crushed red pepper too!

Slide dough onto your stone and bake for 12-14 minutes or until the crust is a light golden brown. Remove from the oven off the pizza stone and onto a cutting board. Spread the container of hummus evenly onto the crust. Then arrange the chopped vegetables on top. Cut into squares, (I like the square shape rather than wedges for this) and enjoy!

First Apple Pie of Autumn

In honor of my super-awesome new Cranberry Stone Pie Plate from Pampered Chef, and the luscious bag of Honey Crisp Apples I scored at the Farmer's Market, I give you my first pie of the season:

Another iPhone pic, sorry

I don't know about you, but I can not WAIT for Isa and Terry's new cookbook: Vegan Pie in the Sky to come out in October.  The PPK website has shown us a few mouth watering previews of what's to come, and THIS pecan pie recipe ALONE has sold me on the book.  But, alas, none of the previews have included the actual pastry pie CRUST recipe.  I realize they can't give too many recipes away in advance, but I, for one, am VERY interested to see what their secret is!

In the past, I've used this Flaky Pie Crust recipe, with excellent results.  But, I've had Vegan Pie in the Sky on the mind, so I went back to Veganomincon to see IF there was a pie crust there...  and there was!


Veganomicon's crust has a couple extra ingredients that my original pie crust recipe does not:  a bit of baking powder, and a touch of apple cider vinegar.  Both of these ingredients ensure a bit of tenderness to the flour for the ultimate "tender, yet flaky" pie crust perfection. (Alton Brown is my hero...)


I am not sure I tasted a huge difference between this crust, and my old stand-by, BUT I am definitely willing to try this recipe again... (I did also purchase a pie shield for my next attempt).  Reviews of the pie were  favorable, overall, but the edges of my crust did get a little bit dry for my liking.

Now for the apples:

My usual "go-to" mix of apples for pie are half Granny Smith and half Golden Delicious.


When I made this pie, I had on hand, a beautiful bag of Honey Crisp from a local orchard here in Rhode Island.

I googled a bit about the use of Honey Crisp in apple pie, and found some mixed results: Some say NEVER, some say they have inconsistent results, and some say AMAZING.  

I, however, decided to go for it:  ALL Honey Crisp, five (5) apples in total.  I did add 3 TBSP of flour instead of my usual 2, because Honey Crisp are super juicy, and I didn't want a runny pie.  I also used 1/4 cup organic white sugar and 1/4 dark brown. MY RESULTS:  I loved it, Two thumbs way up! The apples baked up nice and tender, with the perfect hint of cinnamon-y sweetness.  No runny pie at all! ^_^


What are your favorite apples to use in pies?

Mango Fruit Salsa

Last month, I attended my friend Jess' Pampered Chef Party!  Usually, I am not one for "overly-specific" kitchen gadgets, but any party that involves food, and is centered all around cooking is fine by me!

(In all fairness, I do have quite a few Pampered Chef items, and I use them ALL the time; Some, almost every day). 

Almost can't live with out this!

I had so much fun at Jess' party, that I decided to have one of my own: VEGAN style!  My Pampered chef consultant was rather excited to do an all vegan version of her Pampered Chef demo, especially since she had never done anything like that before.  We decided on two recipes:  Mango Fruit Salsa, to highlight the new Manual Food Processor, and Mediterranean Hummus Flat bread Pizza - no cheese needed!

This salsa recipe is so simple to prepare,  and tastes wonderful. I even made this for two cookouts this Fourth of July, and it was a huge both times.

Don't worry if you don't have the Pampered Chef manual food processor. I find that I can dice the fruit with my knife just fine, and it even comes out a little neater looking; The manual food processor just saves time. Please feel free to use lemon OR lime, for juice and zest. I've used both, and they both work well. Depending on the sweetness of the fruit, I add agave nectar to taste, no more than 1 tbsp usually. Serve with Stacey's Cinnamon Sugar pita chips, or your own home made pita chips. This is also amazing served over ice cream! I believe 1/2 cup salsa = 2 Weight Watchers Points

RECIPE:

1 cup strawberry, hulled and diced
1 kiwi, peeled and diced
1 mango, ripe
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice
agave nectar, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. If not using the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor, try and chop your fruit into uniform 1/4 - 1/2" cubes.
2. For the mango, I usually peel the skin off first with my vegetable peeler, and chop a small slice off the top and bottom. That way it stays flat on my board as I slice around the pit.
3. The pit of the mango is large and flat. When you slice off a bit of the top and bottom, you can see its shape. I usually cut down the two wide sides of the mango first, and then carefully slice down the thinner sides to make sure I get all of the beautiful yellow mango off the pit.
4. Ripe mango is very slippery, so carefully slice fruit and dice into cubes.
5. Add all fruit to a large bowl.
6. Add lime (or lemon) zest and juice.
7. Taste, and add agave nectar, up to 1 tablespoons.
8. Serve with cinnamon pita chips.



My gift for hosting a show was this awesome Cool 'N Serve Tray, that has two green panels that you can put in the freezer. When you take your yummy salsa to a cookout in the sun, your fruits and veggies stay nice and cool ^_^