Veggies Lover's White Sauce Pizza

The thing that is so great about making your own pizzas is that you can pick anything you want to go on top of them. That's certainly not true when you buy them ready-made. Lately, I've been making some meatless meals, and not even missing the meat at all, because the recipe tastes so great.

That is the case with this Veggie Lover's White Sauce Pizza, made with a delicious buttermilk based pizza sauce. I loaded on some of my favorite veggies like orange bell pepper, mushrooms, onions, and spinach.

This is my favorite pizza crust recipe. It's quick and easy to make, and tastes great with any kinds of toppings. It makes a 12" round pizza, and the recipe can easily be doubled to make two pizzas.

And of course, you can put on whatever veggies you like, to make a veggie pizza, but these are some of my favorites. I especially like how healthy the spinach and orange bell peppers are for you.


Recipe for Veggie Lover's White Sauce Pizza

Ingredients:

For White Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon Ranch Dressing
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Toppings:

1 small onion, chopped
1 medium orange bell pepper, cut in thin slices
1-1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese

Pizza dough:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 package all purpose yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Melt butter in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook 1 minute, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in 1 1/2 cups milk; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 3 to 4 minutes or until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat, and whisk in buttermilk and remaining ingredients. Let cool before using on pizza.
 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
 In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and oil. Stir until smooth. Let dough rest 5 minutes.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a 12" round. Sprinkle with extra flour if the dough is sticky. Transfer crust onto a lightly greased pizza pan.
Spread a medium layer of pizza sauce on dough, and lay on spinach, and remaining vegetables. Top with cheese.
Cook in the oven for 20-22 minutes.

Makes a large size pizza. Extra sauce can be stored in refrigerator for up to one week.

Italian Sausage and Kale Pizza

The thing about pizza is that it's pretty much perfect anytime of the year. During spring and summer, there's even more veggies to pick from to put on top of them.

I made this really delicious pizza with my super easy pizza dough. Along with Italian sausage, I used bell peppers, red onions, kale, and mozzarella cheese.

I just really love this easy to make pizza dough, and the recipe easily doubles to make two pizzas. You can also use half regular white flour, and half whole wheat flour to give it an extra healthy boost.

Recipe for Italian Sausage and Kale Pizza

Ingredients:

 For pizza Dough:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 package all purpose yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 pound of Italian sausage
1/2 bunch kale, sliced thinly
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook sausage over medium heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Cook through thoroughly.
 In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and oil. Stir until smooth. Let dough rest 5 minutes.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Sprinkle with extra flour if the dough is sticky. Transfer crust onto a lightly greased pizza pan.
Spread a medium layer of pizza sauce on dough, and lay on kale, red onion, bell peppers, and sausage. Top with cheese.

Cook in the oven for 20-22 minutes.

Makes a large size pizza.

Weekend Cooking With Veggie Pizzas

I started making homemade pizzas with my own dough a few years ago. I really love pizza, and making them from scratch lets me control exactly what is on top of them, and lets me be frugal in the sense that I can use whatever veggies are in the fridge, and still make a delicious pizza.

This weekend it was cold and rainy here in the Seattle area, more like winter than spring. Perfect weather to stay in and make some pizzas for my family to enjoy. This veggie pizza was my favorite.

It had spinach, mushrooms, browned onions, and black olives with a white pizza sauce. I made my super easy pizza dough, and in less than an hour my pizzas were done. And so good!!


Recipe for Veggie Pizza

Ingredients:

For pizza Dough:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 package all purpose yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup white (store bought) pizza sauce
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
1 large onion, sliced and fried until lightly browned
6 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 black olives, sliced in half
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and oil. Stir until smooth. Let dough rest 5 minutes.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Sprinkle with extra flour if the dough is sticky. Transfer crust onto a lightly greased pizza pan.
Spread evenly with pizza sauce, then add toppings and bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Let pizza set 5 minutes before slicing.

Makes one large pizza.


Enjoy!!