END-OF-THE-WEEK PIZZA

An easy and individualized way to use your leftover vegetables (and fruit if you're using tomatoes and pineapple!) is to make homemade pizza.  This is also a great way to get the kids involved in making dinner too.   I try to time end-of-the-week pizza for weeks that I have leftover homemade tomato sauce or pesto.  I've even used leftover peanut sauce for pizza.  To cut time, you can use pre-made crusts, but why would you when you can make easy homemade pizza dough?  While the dough is rising, you can prepare the veggies you want on your pizza.


You can pretty much match any vegetable with any other vegetable, but I've found that taking different ethnic cuisines as guidelines, I can make some really delicious pizzas.  For instance, try making a southwest Tex-Mex pizza with corn, whole black beans, jalapenos, onions, bell peppers and tomatoes.  My favorite is the Thai pizza with Thai-flavor combinations of lime, cilantro, bean sprouts, onions and peanut sauce (which can also be made vegan because it doesn't need cheese to please).   One of my old stand-by pizzas is spinach, wild mushrooms and jalapeno.  What about a Chinese-inspired pizza?  Baby corn, red bell peppers, shiitake mushrooms, green onions and bean sprouts.  Try a mix of your own, and let your family members make their own combination.


Ingredients to try:
fresh spinach
fresh basil (add after baking)
any herb
onion sliced thin
green onions (add after baking)
fresh tomato
sun-dried tomatoes
artichoke hearts
whole black beans
bean sprouts
green beans
jalapeno
olives
corn
pineapple
bell peppers


Sauces to try:
Homemade marinara sauce
Peanut sauce
Pesto (and this can also be vegan if using my recipe for pesto)
Salsa


Cheeses to try:
Goat cheese
Burrata cheese, cut into bite-sized pieces
Bits of brie cheese
Mexican or chihuahua cheese
No cheese






When dough is ready, add pizza toppings, bake at 425 degrees for 11 - 15 minutes, depending on your oven.  You can bake the pizza on a cookie sheet or sheet with a slight lip - it doesn't matter (see photo above).  Place pizzas on a rack to cool (I just use my oven rack on the counter) so as not to get the bottom crust mushy.  What a great way to eat vegetables!