Meatless Monday: Roasted Vegetable Pizza...

Hi friends!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  We sure did in the Jackson house!  Friday night we attended a Christmas party with all of our international friends and had an awesome time!  Then Saturday, B and I had a Christmas shopping date while the kiddos played with friends.  We topped it all off last night with a trip in the car with the kiddos to look at Christmas lights in a few neighborhoods around town.


Weekends usually mean a departure from healthy fare for us, so it's always nice to start Monday off with a meatless meal.  A dear friend  brought this roasted vegetable pizza to us shortly after one of our kiddos was born.  Is it sad to say I don't remember which kiddo for sure?  Anyway, it's super easy, and if you don't want to make your own crust, you can just buy one of the prepared pizza crusts at the grocery store, and I won't even judge you!  But, I will give you bonus points for making your own alrighty?

Let's get started.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

1/2 an eggplant, diced small

1/2 red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

3-4 roma tomatoes, diced

1-2 garlic clove(s), minced

sprinkling of kosher salt and pepper

drizzle of olive oil

sprinkling of Italian seasoning (optional)

2-3 Tbs prepared basil pesto

8 oz pkg mozzarella thinly sliced (I don't use pre-shredded, but you can if you'd like)

1 recipe pizza crust (recipe below) or store bought pizza crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Chop all of the vegetables and place in a metal baking pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with kosher salt, pepper and Italian seasoning (all to taste).  Toss to coat all the vegetables and roast in the oven about 25 minutes or until vegetables begin to brown.

Spread pesto over the bottom of the *pizza crust making sure to spread to the edges (you don't want a thick layer of pesto, just enough for flavor).  Place roasted vegetables over the pesto (you'll have some vegetables left over).  Top with mozzarella cheese and bake 15- 20 minutes or until cheese begins to brown.

Pizza Dough

4 1/2 C. flour

1 3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp yeast

1/4 C. olive oil

1 3/4 C. cold water

Stir together dry ingredients.  Add oil and water and mix with a mixer using the 'dough hook' until ball forms (dough will be very sticky).  Oil a bowl and let dough sit covered with a towel for about an hour before using.  Divide dough for pizzas (can make 2 large or 4 small) pressing out onto a pizza pan or aluminum foil.  You can crimp the edges to form and edge crust like the picture above, or simply pat it out thin Neapolitan style.  Top with toppings and bake.  Mid-way through baking, remove the pizzas from the baking pan and bake directly on the rack (about 10 minutes) to crisp up the crust.

*If using homemade dough, pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes before  putting on toppings, as the roasted vegetable toppings are heavy and can tear the dough.  After you've topped your pizza, bake for another 10 minutes or so on the baking sheet, then slide pizzas directly onto the oven rack to bake another 10 minutes to crisp the crust.