Falafel Pizza with Artichoke Salad

I'm not going to lie, I did not make this falafel.
dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn!!!!
I actually purchased it from a salad bar at the grocery store, but you could also purchase it at your favorite Lebanese restaurant or even use leftover falafel. Of course you could make it yourself, but this is more of a leftover falafel type meal. Fresh falafel is too delicious to put on a pizza and cover with sauces and toppings.

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Leftover falafel is often dry and unappetizing the next day but this falafel pizza will now be your saving grace. Topped with olives, red and yellow bell peppers and drizzled with tahini, it's the perfect way to use less than perfect falafel and turn them back into soft, fluffy pieces of goodness.

Falafel Pizza
serves 4
1 ball fresh pizza dough
3/4 cup marinara sauce
5 pieces of falafel, cut into 4ths
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
3 tbl roughly chopped green and black greek olives
1 cup shredded vegan cheese
1/4 cup tahini

Preheat the oven to 425.
Roll out your pizza dough to a large circle. Place on a greased pizza stone or baking sheet. Spread marinara sauce on top, leaving 1/2" for crust. Top with falafel pieces, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and greek olives.
Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes or until the bottom has browned and the crust is cooked through.
Drizzle the top with tahini and serve.

Artichoke Salad
serves 3
1-15oz can artichoke quarters, drained and rinsed
1 tomato, seeded, roughly chopped
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
3 tbl fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 tbl fresh mint, roughly chopped
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
sea salt, to taste

Combine the artichokes, tomato, cucumber, red onion, parsley and mint. Dress with lemon juice, red pepper flakes and sea salt.

Spinach, Broccoli & Meatball Braided Calzone

I used to buy an entire ball of fresh pizza dough for only $1!! at my favorite pizza place until it went under, now I pay a little more and can find it easily at Whole Foods or most conventional grocery stores. A single ball of dough is all you need to make this impressive and easy lunch or dinner for four. Similar to a traditional calzone, this is simply braided into one long loaf instead of individual pockets.


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Baby spinach, broccoli, vegan meatballs and eggplant marinara sauce stuffed inside fresh pizza dough and braided. Top with tons of garlic, coarse sea salt and sesame seeds before baking and serve this calzone with extra sauce for dipping.

Spinach, Broccoli & Meatball Braided Pizza Bread
serves 4
1 ball fresh pizza dough
all-purpose or semolina flour, for rolling
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 medium yellow onion, small dice
1/2 head broccoli, small florets
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, to taste
6 oz frozen vegan meatballs, thawed
3 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
6 garlic cloves, minced, divided
1 cup eggplant marinara or your favorite sauce
1 tbl sesame seeds
coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Unwrap the pizza dough and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle around 12 inches long and 6 inches wide. If the dough keeps shrinking, let it rest again for 10 minutes, then roll out again. Place on a greased baking sheet or pizza stone.
Preheat the oven to 400.
Saute the onion and broccoli florets in olive oil until tender and fragrant, 7 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Add the meatballs and saute until they are lightly browned. Add the spinach and half of the garlic and stir to wilt the spinach. Once the garlic is toasted, after about 2 minutes, add the marinara sauce and remove from the heat.
Use a sharp knife to cut 1" strips into each side of the dough, like I did here with this strudel.

Fill the center high will pizza filling then wrap the dough up, alternating sides until the bread is fully braided.
Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining garlic, sesame seeds and coarse sea salt.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with extra sauce for dipping!


Eggplant Marinara
2 cups medium diced, peeled eggplant
sea salt
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup minced yellow onion
1 tbl dried basil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-28 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp organic cane sugar

Place the eggplant in a strainer and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow excess moisture to drain from the eggplant. Pat dry and set aside.
Saute the onion and eggplant in olive oil until the onions are caramelized and the eggplant has started to break down, 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, basil. red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes to toast the garlic.
Add the tomato sauce and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, covered.
Taste and adjust seasonings.

Barbecue 'Chicken' Butternut Squash Pizzas

These individual pizzas are basically the cutest thing you'll eat all year! Discs of roasted butternut squash serve as a healthy and gluten free alternative to traditional crust and can be topped with all of your favorite pizza toppings. BBQ 'Chicken' has always been one of my favorite types of pizza and these flavors naturally pair well with roasted squash. It's a win win!

Roasted butternut squash crust topped with barbecued soy curls, crisp red onions, cilantro and cheese.

Barbecue Chicken Butternut Squash Pizzas
10 discs, depending on the size of your squash
1 large butternut squash, skin on, 1" slices
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
1/4 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for the crust
3 tbl vegetable broth
1 cup dried soy curls (for gluten free use extra firm tofu or tempeh)
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup shredded Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti or vegan mozzarella
2 tbl roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat the oven to 425.
Toss the squash slices in olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for 20 minutes until tender and cooked through.
While the squash is cooking, prepare the soy curls.
Combine the barbecue sauce and broth in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and add the soy curls. Toss to coat and cook until all of the liquid has been absorbed then continue to saute until crispy. Season with salt and pepper.
Top each disc with barbecue sauce, soy curls, red onion and cheese and place back in the oven to cook just until the cheese has melted, 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Pizza Loaded Potatoes with Pineapple, Chilies & Pesto

Loaded baked potatoes are an inexpensive and filling way to feed a big crew and customize each one to meet each individuals preferences. Here I decided classic pizza toppings would taste perfect mixed with fresh pesto and marinara sauce.

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Fluffy mashed potato tossed with basil almond pesto and stuffed backed into crispy oven-baked shells, topped with pineapple, red & yellow chili, scallions and mozzarella.

Pizza Loaded Potatoes
serves 3
3 large russet potatoes, pricked all over with a fork
1/2 cup vegetable broth
salt and pepper
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/4 cup thinly sliced pineapple
1 red chili, seeded, thinly sliced
1 yellow chili, seeded, thinly sliced
4 scallions, green parts only, minced
1/2 cup vegan mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 400.
Place the potatoes right on the oven rack and bake for 30 minutes or until the inside is fully tender.
Change the oven temperature to broil.
Slice the potatoes in half and scoop out the meat. Mash the potato with all but a couple spoonfuls of pesto, vegetable broth and season with salt and pepper. Load the pesto potato mixture back in the potato shells and top with sauce, pineapple, chilies, scallions and cheese.
Broil for 5-10 minutes until the cheese has melted.
Drizzle with the remaining pesto.


Basil Almond Pesto
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbl water
1 garlic clove
1/8 tsp salt

Combine all of the ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Butternut Squash, Fennel & Chorizo Tart with Carrot Jam

Carrot Jam!?!? Yeah! It's sweet with a surprisingly easy-to-eat taste that will leave you wondering how else to use it. If you absolutely love carrots, use this jam as you would any fruit spread. Toast and English muffins would love this stuff. If you're like me and you like carrots just fine, use this as a sauce-like component that will marry well with other flavors.

Slightly sweet & smooth carrot jam topped with caramelized butternut squash, fennel, onions and vegan chorizo on a whole wheat crust.

Carrot Jam
4 large carrots, small dice
1/2 cup packed organic light brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Cover the carrots in cold water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Drain, reserving some of the water.
Transfer to a blender and add the brown sugar and lemon juice. Blend until smooth, adding 2-3 tbl of the starchy water to help the blender.
Pour back into the pot and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until the jam is super thick.

Butternut Squash, Fennel & Chorizo Tart
serves 3
1 ball fresh whole wheat pizza dough
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 small yellow onion, small dice
1 small bulb fennel, cored, 1/4" slices
1 1/2 cup butternut squash, small dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme, plus more for sprinkling
salt and pepper
1 cup water
6 oz tofurkey chorizo crumbles

Let the pizza dough sit at room temperature while you prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 400.
Saute the onion and fennel in olive oil with salt and pepper until the vegetables start to soften, 7 minutes. Add the squash, garlic and thyme. Add the water and cover, steam for 10 minutes over medium heat until the squash is cooked almost completely through.
Remove the lid and add the chorizo, saute 5 minutes more to caramelize the vegetables. Season with more salt to taste.
Roll the pizza dough out to a 12 inch circle.
Spread some carrot jam on the dough, leaving a 1/2" border and top with the vegetables. Drizzle a little olive oil over the crust and sprinkle with dried thyme.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Nettle, Golden Beet & Smashed Garlic Foccacia

Last year I tried cooking with  stinging nettles for the first time. Despite the incredibly obvious name, I went ahead, bare-handed pulling the leaves off the stems. IMMEDIATELY I felt a thousand of the smallest stings deep in my skin. Frantic with pain, I washed my hands over and over thinking the pain would....wash off?? It didn't. Two or three days later, I no longer felt the pain but the memory of the sting will forever be in my brain.
"THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT", I proclaimed as I readied my hands with latex gloves. Fast forward to three minutes into handling the nettles and I felt it again. I was stung! Thankfully, just once, but I had to put on a second pair of gloves.
 Nettle-2 Carly-0.

If you don't know what nettles are, they are big green flowering plants with leaves that grow on stalks and are covered in tiny stingers. The flavor and cooking method is similar to spinach, feel free to substitute that in this recipe as well. The stinging sensation goes away once they are cooked, so don't eat these raw!

Nettle, Golden Beet & Smashed Garlic Foccacia
1 large golden beet, ends trimmed
1 medium red onion, ends trimmed
6 large garlic cloves, skin on
salt and pepper
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
4 cups stinging nettle leaves
1/4 cup vegan mozzarella, crumbled
1 rectangle pre-baked foccacia

Preheat the oven to 425.
Place the beet, red onion and garlic on a large piece of foil and drizzle with 2 tbl of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Wrap up in a pouch and roast for 35-40 minutes until the beet is fork tender and cooked through.
While the beets are cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the nettles and cook for 1 minutes. Drain and shock in ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
Reduce the oven to 375.
Once the roasted vegetables are cool enough to touch, peel the beet and slice very thinly. Remove the skins from the garlic and roughly chop the red onion.
Smear the garlic on the top of the foccacia. Top with beets, onions, nettles and cheese crumbles. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tbl of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes.

Mini Pizza Trio

Mini pizzas! Who doesn't love them? I remember as a child eating mini pizzas on English muffins and while that satisfied my 7 year old appetite, these days I prefer fresh dough. Prepare it yourself or pick some up from your local pizzeria for an even easier and still fresh finished product.
Each of these pizzas can easily be made as whole, sharing pies. Just up the amount of vegetables to your liking. These would also be great to grill on a barbecue outside!

Three different types of mini pizzas made from one ball of dough: Eggplant & Broccolini, Potato, Garlic, Rosemary and Olive oil and Roasted Mushroom with Spring Onions and Kale.

Mini Pizza Trio
makes 6 mini pizzas, 2 of each flavor

dough and sauce
1 ball fresh pizza dough
1 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbl dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1-15oz crushed tomatoes
1 ball fresh pizza dough

Saute the onion in olive oil for 3-4 minutes until it starts to soften. Add the garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook 3 minutes more until the garlic has toasted. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Set aside 1/3 of the  chunky sauce for the Eggplant & Broccolini Pizza.
Transfer the remaining sauce to a blender and blend until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 450.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature under a cloth for 15 minutes. Divide into 6 small balls and press out into circles on a floured surface. Let sit for 10 minutes. Prepare two greased baking sheets. Press each circle out again to desired size and place on the baking sheet.
Drizzle 2 pizzas with olive oil for the Potato Bianco. Sauce 2 pizzas with the reserved chunky sauce and the remaining two with the smooth sauce.
Top 2 pizzas with each of the three toppings. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the dough has cooked through.

Eggplant & Broccolini
1/4 cup small diced japanese eggplant
1/4 cup small diced zucchini
2 sprigs broccolini
2 tbl chili oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine all of the ingredients and marinate for 30 minutes. Layer over chunky pizza sauce and bake.

Roasted Mushroom & Spring Onion with Kale
4 shiitake mushrooms, halved
2 spring onions or scallions
1 tbl plus 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
1 cup raw kale leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup baby arugula leaves

Preheat the oven to 425.
Toss the mushrooms and spring onion tips with 1 tbl oil and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes.
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the kale leaves for 3 minutes then shock in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain and toss with 1 tsp of olive oil.
Layer the kale on top of the smooth sauce, top with mushrooms and spring onions. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Top with arugula after the pizza has cooked.

Potato Bianco
1 medium sized yukon
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves. minced
1 tbl dried rosemary, crumbled
coarse sea salt

Par boil the potato in salted water for 5 minutes. Once cool enough to touch, slice thinly.
Brush 2 pizzas with 1 tbl olive oil and top with potato slices, garlic and rosemary. Drizzle the top with the remaining oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Fresh Tomato Tart with Basil Sour Cream

This tart is as simple as throwing some everyday ingredients in a pan, popping it in the oven and waiting to eat it. In the summer when tomatoes are at their best, a variety of cherry heirlooms would make this even better.

Cherry tomatoes, basil, sausage and olive oil tossed and baked on a flaky puff crust, served with dollops of basil cream.

Fresh Tomato Tart
10 oz cherry tomatoes, halved, seeds squeezed out
2 tofurkey Italian sausages, small dice
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

Preheat the oven to 400.
In a 9" saute pan, add the tomatoes, sausage, 3 tbl of oil and all of the spices, pepper and salt. Toss to combine.
Gently roll out the puff sheet to fit over the circumference of the pan. Place the puff directly over the tomatoes and bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Place a large plate over the top of the pastry and flip the tart right side up onto the plate. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tbl of oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Dollop with sour cream.

Basil Sour Cream
1/3 cup vegan sour cream
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbl chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Dollop over the tart while still warm.

Butternut Squash Crostata with Balsamic & Arugula Pesto

Roasted squash drizzled in sweet balsamic vinegar, walnuts and a touch of vanilla baked over a thick and chewy crust with a dollop of arugula pesto.

Butternut Squash Crostata

1 ball fresh pizza dough

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, small cubes (about 2-3 cups)

 1/2 yellow onion, small dice

2 tbl extra virgin olive oil

2 tbl balsamic vinegar

1 tbl agave

1 tbl dried thyme

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese

1/4 cup roughly chopped, toasted walnuts

Preheat the oven to 425.

Remove the fresh dough from the refrigerator and let sit covered at room temperature to relax.

Combine the squash, onion, oil, vinegar, agave, thyme, vanilla, salt and pepper and roast on a baking sheet for 10 minutes to parbake. Set aside and toss in the garlic.

Turn the heat up on the oven to 450.

Roll out the pizza dough to a 9" circle. Sprinkle all of the squash mixture over top and dollop with cream cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and cooked through.

Sprinkle the top with walnuts and arugula pesto.

Arugula Pesto

2 cups loosely packed arugula leaves

1/2 cup loosely packed parsley

1 garlic clove, smashed

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the arugula, parsley and garlic in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Process into a fine paste. Stream in the olive oil, adding more if it is too thick. Taste and season again.