Delicious Mexican Pizza

I recently tried a recipe for sweet pea "guacamole" which yielded a HUGE batch of dip that was tasty but not really the same as guacamole. We've had it with a few meals but still had quite a lot of it left. While I was out yesterday I almost stopped at the store to buy tortillas but then I had a flash of inspiration. Why not make a Mexican Pizza and serve it with dollops of the faux guac?

Yesterday was a big cooking day so I prepped ingredients I would need for the pizza. I grilled and sliced some green, yellow, and red peppers. I threw a few cobs of corn in the oven to roast alongside the roasting eggplant and baking brown rice. I was going to cook some beans but ran out of steam.

No worry, with a pressure cooker, cooking beans is a snap even if I forget to soak them overnight. Today, after checking for pebbles and rinsing the beans thoroughly, I put them in the pressure cooker with plenty of water to cover. Over high heat, I brought the cooker up to pressure and then let it cook for just a minute. The heat was turned off and the beans left alone for the pressure to come down naturally. This takes 30-60 minutes usually. This step is called speed soaking and replaces overnight soaking.

Once the pressure was released, I drained and rinsed the beans and then covered them with fresh water. Repeated bringing them up to pressure but this time I let them cook for 5 minutes. The pressure was allowed to come down naturally again. That's it. The beans were all done.

Tonight, it was a fairly simple matter to put the pizza together. I'd defrosted my pizza crust earlier in the day. For quick and easy healthy pizzas, I order whole wheat Kabuli pizza crusts by the case (which I split with a friend) from the Dallas Gourmet Bakery. (Call them to place an order.) Their crusts are ready to use, just like a Boboli crust but made with whole wheat flour, no added oil, and no cheese. And they're cheaper!

I like to parbake the crust for 5 minutes before adding the sauce and toppings. While that was baking, I blended together my beans, salsa, and spices, using the recipe from Soul Searching Vegan, except I substituted local, organic red chile powder for the paprika and my own cooked pinto beans for the black beans.

I spread this over the pizza crust. Then I sprinkled on chopped onion, the corn kernels cut from the roasted ears, the grilled peppers, and the dehydrated spicy zucchini I made last week. We skip the cheese.

The pizza baked in just 10 minutes and came out smelling yummy.

The sweet pea guacamole was spooned on each slice and added a nice touch, although the pizza is also good without it.

Dinner was delicious, filling, and quite healthy. Other than the crust and the salsa, everything on the pizza was grown locally and organically.