Monday, April 24, 2006

Barbecue Chik'n Pizza

I ended up bringing pizza again for lunch today, but this time I made it Barbecue Chik'n Pizza just to have something a little bit different. I remember, back when I was an omnivore, the first time I had pizza like this at a California Pizza Kitchen. I was hooked on it the first time I tried it. Luckily, it's really easy to make a vegan version of this yummy dish.

I didn't make my crust homemade this time because I discovered the perfect crust for personal size pizzas already made at the grocery store. I just used a whole-wheat pita. They've got all the fiber in them, they are the perfect size for fitting into the lunchbox, and they crisp up really nice in the toaster oven when you cook them. So basically, I just took a couple of pitas and covered them with some barbecue sauce (I would imagine that most barbecue sauces are vegan, but if you were buying a brand you were unfamiliar with I would definitely check the label), some Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips, chopped onion and green pepper, and finally, some Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. I popped the whole thing into a 450 degree toaster oven for 7 minutes and it was done.

I packed a salad, to go along with my pizza, which is just some spicy arugula with baby spinach and some carrots thrown on top. The dressing is my usual olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sesame oil. Plus I threw in a Cherry Pie Larabar to fill the empty space and give me a little bit more raw food in today's lunch.

Speaking of raw food, I guess I am going to have to take a step back and slow down a little bit if I am going to explore the preparation of more complicated raw food dishes. My dehydrator arrived last Friday and I tried making a couple of things in it this weekend and, unfortunately, I was not too impressed. The dehydrator worked fine, it's just that what I made in it wasn't that great. I made some flax seed crackers, and I just took one bite of that and actually had to spit it out. I am pretty sure that I severely over dehydrated those, so maybe that one was my fault. Perhaps I should try another batch and actually just dehydrate them for the time called for in the recipe. I guess it's possible to dehydrate something too much huh?

I should probably switch and try to dehydrate some fruit, or make some type of raw fruit & nut cookie next. I imagine something like that would probably be quite a bit more tasty than dehydrated flax seeds or potatoes. Anyway, I won't be starting a big raw food kick today. I obviously need to experiment a lot more before I commit to something like a 100% raw diet for a week, or 30 days, or whatever. In the mean time, I am still going to try and squeeze as many raw fruits, vegetables & nuts as I can into the lunchbox every day.

I'm not sure that a lot of the people who eat a 100% raw diet all the time spend the time making those fancy things that require the dehydrator anyway. From some of the stuff I have been reading, it looks like a lot of them are just "grazers" and basically just nibble on raw fruits, vegetables and nuts lots of times during the day. Oh well, I just had this idea that I was gonna' pop some stuff in the dehydrator and get some kind of yummy snacks out of it, and it didn't quite work out that way on my first try. I will try again though.

Well, I guess that just about does it for Monday. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

6 comments:

scs said...

Have you tried Juliano's "Raw" Uncook Book? (or seen it?) I keep meaning to make something out of it one of these days because it looks very tasty, even the flaxseed crackers and things like that. Maybe it takes a little trial and effort, or maybe a taste-bud adjustment, I don't know. Anyway, I'm interested to hear about your future raw food endeavors, since I have been curious lately myself.

Pizza looks good.

Anonymous said...

I think I just figured out what we're having for supper :) BBQ pizza. Yummy!

Brooke said...

What a good idea! I hadn't thought of bbq pizza yet....I will have to raid my fridge to see if I have the makings for one.

Brooke said...

Well, I made my own version of bbq pizza tonight, thanks to your idea. I used a frozen pizza crust, added some Jack Daniel's bbq sauce, some crumbled up LightLife smokey Tempeh (fakin' bacon), and grated on some FYH Vegan mozzarella cheese. Oh my goodness, it was delicious! Thanks for the inspiration!

NightOwl said...

That pizza looks great! And don't despair about the raw stuff--I think it's great that you're doing your best to get as much raw as possible into your diet. As long as you keep processed foods to a minimun, you're good.

kennyboy said...

Yeah scs, I got that book but I haven't tried anything from it yet. I got Alissa Cohen's book too which is FILLED with recipes. I think I've just overwhelmed myself with info and I don't know what I am doing yet. I'm gonna' keep trying though. I'll make something I like eventually.

Glad your pizza turned out good Brooke. I keep meaning to make a pizza with some vegan pesto as the sauce but I just never get around to it. There are probably some other obvious non-traditional things that you could use for pizza sauce if we could just think of them. I love pizza!

Yeah nightowl, I think you are right. That's the best approach.