Elana’s Meat-Free Monday: Green Pizza

(VEGAN/VEGETARIAN RECIPES) This cheeseless pizza is topped with green veggies and a delicious vegan pesto. You can make the dough from scratch using the recipe here, or to save time, buy a pre-made pizza crust.

Serve a slice with a side of marinara for dipping!  — Global Animal

Green Pizza
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients
1 batch Pesto (See Below)
1 batch Pizza Dough (See Below)
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup Broccoli
1/2 cup Kale, chopped
1 Zucchini, diced
Fresh Spinach, enough to layer over the top

Dough Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsps Active Dry Yeast
1 cup Warm Water, divided in half
2 cups Bread Flour
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Pesto Ingredients:
1/3 cup Dried Basil
1 clove Garlic
1/8 cup Pine Nuts
1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Nut Cheese
Salt To Taste

Directions
Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water and set aside for five minutes until frothy. In a medium bowl, combine the bread flour and salt. Add in the olive oil, the other half of the water, and the yeast mixture. Stir until you have a sticky dough.

Put the dough on a clean surface with some extra flour sprinkled over it. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Make sure to pick up the dough and throw it down hard to help develop the gluten. Spread oil around a large bowl and then place the dough in it and cover with a cloth. Let it rise for one hour.

While the dough is rising, make one batch of pesto. Combine all of the ingredients except for the oil in the food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the oil and pulse until smooth and creamy. Add in salt to taste.

For the toppings, heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Then stir-fry the broccoli, kale, and zucchini until they start to soften then remove from heat.

Assemble the pizza:
Once the dough has risen, spread it out in an oiled pan for pan pizza or mold into a circle on a pizza pan for a thinner crust. Make sure the dough rises at the edges to form the crust.

Spread the pesto over the pizza dough and then cover with one layer of fresh spinach leaves. Spoon the pre-cooked toppings over the spinach leaves and then bake for 10-15 minutes at 500 degrees.

Learn more about the Meat-Free Mondays Challenge!

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