Meatless Monday Menu: Week 3

Today's meatless feature is a homemade basil, red onion, and mushroom pizza.  And let me tell you, it was delicious.

Quite a few years ago, I used to subscribe to Time magazine.  The April 9, 2007 Global Warming Survival Guide edition really caught my attention.  We had recently had a winter which was the warmest in my lifetime and I thought, "this is real and something needs to be done."  Fortunately, there are many practical suggestions that I have tried to incorporate into my own life.

Number 22 is the reason why I am doing the Meatless Monday Menu.  When I was younger, almost all of my lunches and dinners would have meat, lots of meat.  Knowing the impact that eating meat has on our planet, I eat less, less meat.  My goal in with these posts is to provide meatless meal ideas that taste good and are nutritional as well.

Tonight's meatless meal can be as simple or fancy as you like so feel free to modify the recipe.


Ingredients:
Pizza dough from a store or homemade pizza dough.  We used Jay's Signature Pizza Crust Recipe.
Olive oil for greasing your pizza pan or stone
Your favorite pizza sauce.  We used sauce from Trader Joe's
Mozzarella cheese

Toppings:
Dried oregano
Parmesan cheese
5 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/4 of a red onion, cut into larger pieces
1/2 cup of fresh basil, rinsed and cut into strips

Directions: Make the dough or follow the directions for the premade dough.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  If you are using a pizza stone, be sure to keep it in the oven until the baking temperature is reached.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to your desired thickness and shape.  This is a good time to add flavors to the dough like garlic or oregano if you so desire.  Then pour a small amount of olive oil on your pizza pan or stone.   Using a brush, coat the pan or stone so that the pizza dough won't stick.

Transfer the dough to the pan or stone.

Then spread the sauce onto the dough, leaving the perimeter of the dough sauce-free.  Next add the cheese, covering all of the sauce.  I prefer to sprinkle the oregano and parmesan before I add any other toppings.  Once you have the oregano and parmesan cheese sprinkled onto the pizza, it's time for your main toppings.  I like a lot of toppings so the amount I used may be too heavy for your taste.  If so, adjust accordingly.  If you are feeling adventurous, try adding the sauce, toppings, and cheese in a different sequence.

Finally, bake your pizza for about 15-18 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.  If the pizza dough has stuck to the pan, use a spatulla to seperate the pizza from the pan before cutting.

Enjoy your pizza while lowering your carbon footprint.

For more meatless meal ideas, check out the Meatless Monday website.