Have I ever mentioned that we have a wonderful live in chef?
One who loves to cook everything from gourmet breakfasts to gourmet dinners- and is not one to shy away from trying new recipes or tweaking favorites to make them even better.
Like veggie pizza. Topped with so many veggies… it is more like veggies with a side of bread.
This chef who creates all these amazing dishes -well, he doesn’t wear one of those fancy chef hats and aprons but he is a pretty good cook. And he is my husband. 🙂
I am fortunate that he loves to cook and recently, I shared a peek of his fresh veggie pizza making on Instagram – and got so many messages about the recipe- he indulged in making another so I could snap a few iphone photos.
I mean… it wasn’t too hard to convince him… just look at what was for dinner?
So. Good.
Basically, there are a few ways you can make this amazing pizza.
You can use a simple ready to go crust when in a hurry- like the ones you top yourself and then bake. You can find them in the bakery of the market usually. Or you can use a favorite crust recipe if you have one- or even a pre-made veggie pizza (I won’t tell).
Another shortcut- use a fresh yogurt garlic ranch dressing – found in the produce aisle with the salad – in place of creating your own. It is simple and it doesn’t take too much to cover the crust so you can control how much ‘sauce’ you have.
If you want to make your own pizza dressing- here is a recipe I found on Pinterest
(I haven’t tried it though)
Here are the ingredients:
Pizza crust
A fresh ready to top
White sauce- we like to use a garlic ranch- but you can use anything you would like.
1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
For topping:
Handful Fresh spinach
Sliced mushrooms
Diced Red Onions
Heaping handful of garlic- chopped chunky
Mini bell peppers
yellow squash
Zucchini
For adding after baked:
Crumbled feta cheese
Sliced avocado
Fresh Basil leaves
Preheat your oven to 375 (or what your crust requires) and prepare your crust if starting from scratch.
Or add your garlic ranch sauce to your pre-made crust. After spreading the sauce on the crust- sautee a handful of the mushrooms and spinach for the first topping- and then- bake.
Bake your pizza crust for about 15 minutes (we used a pre-made organic veggie pizza for these photos)
While your crust is baking, chop and slice and then sautee your veggies with a little olive oil and fresh ground black pepper.
You can incorporate any veggies you love- there are no rules. He used mini bell peppers, yellow squash, garlic, mushrooms and red onions for this one- but zucchini is also really good to include- as is asparagus- be creative and use what you love.
After sauteeing – set your veggies aside until your pizza crust is done baking- and then load the top of the pizza up with all those sauteed veggies.
After covering the top of your pizza with your sauteed veggies- take the fresh basil and simply layer on the top- and then it is time for your crumbled feta and a classic California touch- slices of avocado.
Then enjoy. 🙂
This is seriously soo good.
So simple to make and easy to make even healthier by using less cheese
(or omitting all together) and less of the yogurt garlic ranch sauce.
This is a great recipe for those days when you want veggies but you kind of want something more than just your everyday sauteed veggies. We actually prefer this pizza to one of our long standing restaurant favorites- because it is so customizable and so delicious.
And don’t worry- I won’t share recipes all the time on here but maybe a couple here and there for some flavor. (chef joke) haha.
Like maybe the Egg Slut restaurant breakfast sandwich we had in Las Vegas that he came home and recreated with a special twist- or the breakfast salad he loves to make. And tonight- we are hosting dinner for a few friends and colleagues – and the chef is making his famous black pepper pasta, artichoke bread and more. I will share some sneaks and more soon.
Happy Tuesday everyone.
Alison says
Yummy!!! would love a post about the breakfast salad please!!
Marisa Franca @ Allourway says
Love the idea! We make lots of pizzas and we do like to use arrugula. We'll have to use the more veggie method. We don't use a lot of cheese or meat. I like the "white sauce" idea.
JMCD says
Im confused. Your husband used what crust and what sauce in his pizza?
Courtney says
It is a fresh crust from the bakery at the market- and a yogurt based garlic ranch dressing. You can also use a premade veggie pizza for the base (like the one we used for the photos) and add your vegetables to that or simply bake from scratch. Sorry- I just wanted to give you options for making it and likely confused a lot of folks!
DeAnna says
I love seeing your family's recipes. It's always nice to get more vegetables in our diet and this pizza looks delicious! I used to make a south western style pizza with ranch dressing and bbq sauce with vegetables and beans. We did put chicken on it, but I think it could easily be changed up with all vegetables. Thanks for sharing!
JMCD says
Ah ha! Thank you ????
Lisa says
avocado on pizza?! Mind. Blown.
That sounds delicious! My husband makes pizza on a pizza stone on the grill and it is sooo yummy. I make the dough for the crust in my bread machine and it's really quick and easy. I can't wait to try these toppings on it, yum! I'm vegetarian, too.