Vegan Dinners
Cheeseless Sausage Pizza

We LOVE pizza! Mushrooms, garlic, Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and marinara or pesto. So when we became vegans, giving up cheese seemed to give any future pizza cravings a nose dive. But with experimentation, I was able to actually create the best pizza ever! The taste is there, but not the artery clogging cheeses and meats.

Give this recipe a try and you won't be disappointed. And your body will thank you.

Ingredients
2 boxes pre-sliced button mushrooms
2 boxes pre-sliced brown crimini mushrooms
2 small eggplants (optional, but give it a try)
4 large yellow, purple or white onions
2 whole garlic heads
4 tablespoons capers
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes
1 jar Kalamata olives
10 pepperocini pickled peppers
4 tablespoons fresh pine nuts
1 jar artichoke crowns or canned water-packed artichoke hearts
olive oil
1 bunch green onions thinly sliced
1 container fresh baby arugula
crushed red pepper flakes

Tools
pizza cutter
cutting board
good knives
mandoline
garlic mandoline
assorted bowls to hold toppings
pizza pans
insulated cookie sheet
plastic wrap

Preparation
The Crust
Begin by creating the basic pizza crust. Then while the dough is rising, you can prepare the toppings.

The Toppings
First I'll explain all of the toppings that I use in my kitchen... then you can add or subtract from the list and create your own masterpiece. It's even fun to make individual pizzas that guests can choose the toppings that they like best.

The Eggplant
Select two firm, smooth, evenly colored eggplants to grill for the pizza. Cut the eggplants into rounds about 1/2 inch thick and salt them with Hawaiian Sea Salt on both sides. Lay the rounds on a clean terry towel to absorb any bitter moisture that may come out.

Go out and fire up your barbecue to HIGH.

Onions and Mushrooms
For the best pizza, it's a good idea to pre-cook wet veggies. Mushrooms and onions hold an enormous amount of water. So I buy pre-sliced mushrooms and put both boxes in the cast iron skillet and cook on high until all the liquid has evaporated.
At the same time I peel and slice the onions as thin as possible on a stainless steel mandoline. With one tablespoon of olive oil in another cast iron skillet, I cook the onions over medium heat until they reach a golden brown.

Using a spatula, I ladle the onions onto a clean terry kitchen towel to eliminate any liquid that may remain.

The mushrooms will be done by now and I spoon them out of the skillet onto a platter to cool them.

The Eggplant Barbecue
Blot the salted eggplant rounds. Spray each piece with no-stick spray olive oil and place on a platter. Barbecue for two or three minutes on each side... careful not to burn the rounds.

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.

Assemble & Prepare the Toppings

Trader Joe's Artichoke Crowns
Drain and thinly slice.

Trader Joe's Pepperocini Peppers
Pull off the stems.
Press in a terry towel to remove excess fluids.
Slice into thin strips.

Trader Joe's Artichoke Hearts
Drain the fluid.
Press in a terry towel to remove excess fluid.
Quarter or half each artichoke.

Trader Joe's Sun Dried Tomatoes
Open the jar by tapping the lid on the countertop.
Set aside.

Trader Joe's Chopped Olives
Open the jar by tapping the lid on the countertop.
Set aside.

Trader Joe's Capers
Drain the fluid.
Rinse contents with tap water and drain again.
Measure out into a small bowl.

Prepare the Garlic
Take the garlic cloves and crush them with the wide flat part of a knife to loosen the skin. Peel off the outer covering and place in a bowl. Use a small garlic mandoline to finely slice the garlic cloves.

Meatless Sausages
Garden Burger Meatless Breakfast Sausage comes frozen. There are six patties in each package. In a medium hot skillet, spray no-stick spray oil and cook the patties until they are hot.

While the patties are cooling, take a fork and crumble each patty into bits that will distributed over the top of pizza after it is baked.

The taste and smell will be just like the real thing! Set this aside.

RobART likes the Tofurky Sweet Italian Sausage with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Basil cut into 1/4 inch rounds, sprayed with olive oil spray and pan fried. These are then set aside and will be added after the pizza is cooked.

Raw Pine Nuts
Pan toast the raw pine nuts in a dry, heavy
bottomed fry pan over medium heat.

Cook until all are lightly golden. These nuts can burn easily, so stay with this project until finished.

Green Onions
Slice one bunch of green onions into the thinnest diagonal pieces possible.

Box of Baby Arugula
Place the arugula, green onions, crumbled sausage and toasted pine nuts aside. These toppings will be added after the pizza is cooked.

Prepare The Pizza
Once all the toppings have been prepared, roll out one half of the pizza dough, roll out and place onto a round-holed pizza pan.

Use the pastry cutter/scraper
to divide the dough and to use to scrap up the leftover rolling flour on your countertop.

Cover the rolled out pizza dough with pesto sauce, tomato paste or olive oil.
Distribute the sliced garlic over the base sauce.
Distribute the sauteed onions and mushroom between the two pizza bases. Continue adding capers, olives, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and crowns.

Place into 375 degree oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes. Watch closely to make sure the bottom does not burn.

I recommend using an insulated cookie sheet beneath the round pizza for the first 13 minutes and then remove it to brown the bottom for 2 minutes. If you don't use the insulated cookie sheet, the bottom will cook too fast and the top edges of the pizza will not cook through.

Final Pizza Toppings
Remove the cooked pizza from the oven and place onto a cookie rack to prevent sweating on the bottom of the pizza. Distribute the arugula over the steaming pizza, add the sausage, green onions, pine nuts, pepperocinis and hot chili flakes.

Remember that the ingredients listed are for two 14 inch pizzas.

These pizzas are even better reheated! If you are not eating both at the same time, do not put the final toppings onto the second cooked pizza. Let it cool and then cut it and wrap into individual plastic wrapped packages and freeze or put into the refrigerator. Store the toppings and save until you've reheated the basic pizza again.

We heat ours in a small toaster oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Then you can put on the remaining toppings.