Vegan Pesto Pizza

Like many, I love pesto. And luckily, pesto can be made vegan really easily. It's so easy that I can make it in under 10 minutes. Yep, this dish can be thrown together and be ready to eat in less than a half hour. Who doesn't love a simple, quick recipe that even carnivore friends will love? 

Vegan Pesto Pizza

 

Sauce Ingredients: 

3 garlic cloves 

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast 

1/3 cup pine nuts 

4 cups basil leaves 

1/2 small lemon, juiced 

1/3 cup olive oil 

salt and pepper 

 Topping Ingredients: 

a few grape tomatoes, thinly sliced 

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced 

Anything else you think might work, for example sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and olives would be delicious. 

 Everything Else: 

2 large pizza crusts (30cm) 

 Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

 2. Add all sauce ingredients to food processor and blend until the sauce is smooth. 

 3. Distribute sauce over two pizza crusts until covered evenly. 

 4. Scatter toppings over pizza. 

 5. Cook in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pizzas are browning around the edges. 

 6. Let cool for 2 minutes before slicing. 

 7. Serve with olive oil if needed.

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

Have leftovers from the Quinoa Black Bean Patties? So did we. But we weren't in the burger mood, so we decided to improv a bit with these tasty Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers. Turned out awesome! Such an easy way to make one meal turn into two!

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

Takes about 1 hour to prepare and serves about 10 hungry people.

Ingredients:

6 tbsp olive oil 

10 bell peppers (we used a variety of colors)

2 cloves garlic minced 

3-4 stalks green onion, diced small 

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves 

1 can black beans 

3 cups quinoa, cooked in veggie broth 

2 cups bread crumbs 

dash of cumin

dash of chili powder

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare the Quinoa mixture. The detailed instructions with pictures can be found in a previous post, here. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet, add 3/4 cup diced red pepper and saute until slightly soft, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa. Add garlic and green onion and combine to saute until soft. Remove from heat, cool for several minutes and combine with black beans and cilantro. Add this mixture to food processor and pulse until chunky. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, add it to the black bean mixture in the food processor and blend. Salt & pepper to taste.

This is where things get a little different:

2. Add a dash of cumin and chili powder. If you have any leftover cooked quinoa, add it to the mixture. Don't add more than 1 cup. If you don't, it will still taste great, don't worry!



3. Stuff hollowed bell peppers with the mixture and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.



4. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of peppers and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with sliced avocado.

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Quinoa Black Bean Patties

Brett and I just finished eating some of the tastiest quinoa burgers I've ever had! We got the recipe while shopping at Trader Joe's last week. It was on the back of a package of their Tricolor Quinoa. We thought it sounded good and decided to buy all the ingredients we needed then and there. I think they turned out great. The flavor was amazing! I will warn you, though, if you like a meaty, rough consistency, these might not be the best choice for you! I would not try to grill them, but they turned out perfect fried up in a pan. We used ciabatta rolls instead of regular buns and topped them with avocado! Yum!

Quinoa Black Bean Patties
Takes about 1 hour to prepare and feeds about hungry 6 people.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil 3/4 cup red bell peppers, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 large shallot, diced small (I used green onion) 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves 1 cup black beans 3 cups quinoa, cooked in veggie broth 2 cups bread crumbs salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet, add red pepper and saute until slightly soft, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa.
 

2. Add garlic and shallot (green onion) and combine to saute until soft.

3. Remove from heat, cool for several minutes and combine with black beans and cilantro. Add this mixture to food processor and pulse until chunky.





4. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, add it to the black bean mixture in the food processor and blend. Add salt & pepper to taste.

5. Divide into 7-8 patties and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes. I suggest making the patties on the small side to make frying a bit easier.

6. Once the patties are cooled and a bit more firm, dredge them in bread crumbs that have been seasoned with salt & pepper.
7. Fry patties in remaining olive oil (or use more, if needed), about 3 minutes each side.


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