Personal Pizzas with Eggplant Crust

Ever thought, why does pizza have to come on a doughy crust? I did too. Well, I was perusing the internets when I came across a unique take on homemade pizzas. Eggplant pizza? What, even? Intrigued, I scanned the recipe; realizing I had the majority of the ingredients I seriously went to Trader Joe's just to buy an eggplant. Only an eggplant. That's all. This is the aftermath which a few of my friends so luckily got to enjoy.

Photo courtesy of the Instagram: ZeroDecorum

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant                              ($0.89)
• 1 cup marinara sauce            ($0.53)
• 4  vegan italian sausages      ($1.35)
• ½ cup vegan mozzarella        ($0.96)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil                    -
• enough coarse sea salt to coat both sides of the sliced eggplant but I did not measure so I am not sure how much that is, sorry

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to bake at 400ºF. Slice the eggplant into ½ inch slices. If sliced too thin, the salting and baking will cause the eggplant to get soggy and crumble. If sliced too thick, the baking process will not make the eggplant crispy enough to hold the weight of the ingredients. I have found that ½ inch thick slices yield the most sturdy, crispy pizzas; every eggplant is different so you may have to adjust the thickness for your liking. Coat both sides of the eggplant with the coarse salt and let sit for 15-20 minutes. Salt brings out the bitter taste inherent in the eggplant; after 20 minutes wipe all moisture and residue off of the eggplant slices. Slice the sausages and fry them in oil until crispy. Heat the marinara sauce on the stove until warmed through. Lightly sprinkle the eggplant slices with sea salt and set on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes but do not let the eggplant get mushy when baked too long. Remove the slices and top with the sauce, sausage, and cheese. Set the oven to broil and place the pizzas in for about 3 minutes, just to melt the cheese. Remove and devour. 

The smaller end of the eggplant will make mini bite sized pizzas
while the larger end makes personal "pan" pizzas

Place the eggplant slices on a paper towel before salting to ensure
the most moisture is absorbed and the bitterness removed

Sometimes the smaller slices will get crispy quicker than
the larger slices so keep checking while baking and remove if necessary

Tofurky is my go-to faux meat
WATCH OUT: Trader Joe's meatless Italian Sausage contains egg whites! 

Slice the sausage into ½ inch slices for a more meaty texture
Slice thinner for a crispier variation

I usually place the cooked sausage bites on a paper towel
to soak up that extra oil
I KNOW, I am THAT person who dabs their greasy pizza...

Fav sauce right now: Trader Joe's Tomato Basil 

Yurm

Whatta feast!

Vegan Pizza! Vezza!

Seriously, is there anyone on this earth that does not enjoy a greasy, melty, savory slice of pizza? I doubt it. Satisfy your craving with a vegan take on the classic pizza. 

Ingredients:

• 1 ready-to-bake pizza dough                ($1.14)
• 1 cup of flour                                           ($0.02)
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil                    ($0.02)
• ½ of a red pepper                                   ($0.55)
• ½ of a yellow pepper                              ($0.43)
• ½ of a can black olives, drained            ($0.54)
• 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced                  ($0.66)
• 1 jar of pizza sauce                                 ($1.67)
• 1 bag of vegan soy cheese                   ($2.89)

Colorful veggie toppings! Get creative with your
favorite toppings for your vezza.

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 450°F. Lay out some flour in a thin layer. Roll the uncooked pizza dough around in the flour to coat all of the outside surface. Flatten and spread the dough out. Coat the bottom of a baking tray with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Place the dough on the tray, spreading it to all the edges. Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the dough. Sprinkle a light layer of cheese over the sauce. Add the veggie toppings evenly. Cover the veggies with the rest of the cheese. Place the vezza in the oven for at least 30 minutes. Soy cheese takes longer to melt than dairy cheese. Remove the vezza when the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing and serving.  Eat up!

Costing $7.92, this pizza will serve 4...or 2 starving, impoverished vegan college students. Eating out is the most costly manner of dining nowadays so enjoy how inexpensive it can be to make vegan alternatives to everyday omnivore food.

Did you know?

What could go better with vezza than an ice cold can of BEER?! Steel Reserve is a good beer for impoverished vegans because it is considered a high gravity beer. At 8.1% ABV, alcohol by volume, Steel Reserve is an inexpensive yet alcoholic beer. 

Beer is old. Traces of pots containing ancient beer have been traced back almost 5,000 years. Theories exist that the manna from the Old Testament of the Bible was actually a bread-based beer called wusa. I hope this is true because 40 years of walking around the desert can be miserable without any manna beer. Beer became an everyday staple for people of all social statuses in northern and eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. Grapes for wine were not easily cultivated there, so beer became the dominant adult beverage. Beer was consumed instead of water for sanitary purposes. The boiling required for the brewing process decontaminated the beer, so why not drink beer instead of contaminated water?

The Kalevala, a Finnish epic poem of collected oral traditions contains more lines about the origin of brewing beer than the origin of mankind itself. The patron goddess of brewing in ancient Sumer was called Ninkasi. In Egyptian mythology, the immense blood-lust of the fierce lioness goddess Sekhmet was only sated after she was tricked into consuming an extremely large amount of red-colored beer. She became so drunk that she gave up her hunt altogether.

If you are over the age of 21, feel free to enjoy (responsibly) a nice glass (or gallon) of beer with your vegan pizza. You will feel at least 80% more American, but 100% better about being cruelty-free! Save Animals, Eat Vezza.