Roasted Veggie Pizza!

Who doesn't love pizza?!

This is one of my all time favorite original recipes. I came up with it a few years ago when I was trying out a whole foods, plant-based diet and wanted something hardy and filling. It's so tasty that I still make it now even though I'm not exactly eating that way anymore. You will notice that it doesn't include cheese. Do not be alarmed. I have made it for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike, and it's been a hit with everyone I've cooked it for. (If you absolutely need cheese to make it feel like a true pizza, I would go with crumbled feta and add it on top of the veggies before placing it in the oven.)

The sauce was inspired by a segment of The Oprah Winfrey show on which Dr. Oz was saying how one of the healthiest things you can eat is tomato paste, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil mixed together. He suggested it would make a good pizza sauce, so I decided to try it out and add my own flare to give it a little more flavor and really make it my own. I used to grill the veggies, but that is really time consuming when you don't have an outdoor grill (booo! to the rules and regulations of Arlington County and my condo association!) and have to use a stove-top one. If you have an outdoor grill, go ahead and grill the veggies instead of roasting them. If you're like me and can't grill outdoors, the roasting still gives great flavor, so not to worrry.

I hope you like it as much as my friends, family, and I do! Let's get cookin'!

Servings: However many can eat one full pizza!
Prep Time: about 20 minutes
Total Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Note: This is a great recipe to modify for a low sodium diet. The garlic, red pepper flake, tomato paste, herbs, and veggies have such great, strong flavor that it makes up for the lack of salt. If you want to make this recipe low sodium, simply omit the salt and buy no-salt-added tomato paste & Italian herb blend when you're grocery shopping.

Ingredients:
1 vine-ripened tomato, ¼ inch thick slices
½ medium-sized eggplant, cut into medallions (cut medallions in half or quarters as needed so that all the slices are more or less even)
½ large zucchini, cut into medallions
½ green bell pepper, sliced thin
½ red bell pepper, sliced thin

¼ of a large sweet onion, sliced thin
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons Italian herb blend
Salt & pepper to taste
2 fresh basil leaves, julienned
1 ball of pre-made white or wheat pizza dough
3 tablespoons of corn meal, more or less as needed

Time saving tip: You can use a store-bought, pre-cooked crust, such as Boboli, instead of the dough and that will save you about 15 minutes: five minutes of the prep process since you won't have to roll out the dough and about ten minutes on the cooking time.

For the Sauce...
1 can tomato paste
1 clove garlic, grated
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fresh-cracked black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

After all of the veggies are chopped, place them on a non-stick baking pan. Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle on the Italian herbs, as well as the salt and pepper to taste. Toss the veggies with your hands to coat them with the oil, herbs, and s&p.

Place in the oven on the middle rack and cook for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

While the veggies are cooking, roll out the pizza dough. Sprinkle some corn meal on a flat, clean surface, like a counter top.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin that has also been dusted with some cornmeal.

Fit the dough to your pizza stone.

Next, make the sauce. Open the can of tomato paste and empty it into a small mixing bowl. Pour in the extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and grate the garlic in last.

Stir until all is combined. Taste to make sure it’s to your liking and adjust seasoning as needed. If you like it spicy, add some more pepper flakes!

Spread the pizza sauce onto the pizza dough with the back of a spoon until the surface is fully and evenly covered.

When the veggies are done roasting, remove the pan from the oven and distribute the veggies in an even layer on the pizza dough over the sauce. A spatula is good for doing this. Last, place the tomato slices on top of the other veggies. Don’t overlap.

Put the pizza in the oven to cook for about 20 minutes. Check on it periodically to make sure it’s not burning. When there are only two cooking minutes remaining, sprinkle on the basil and allow to finish cooking.

Remove from the oven and place the pizza on a large cutting board.

Cut into desired number of slices and serve hot. Enjoy!