Meatless March Day #12: Shamrock Pizza

Since, it was Friday night and almost St. Patrick's Day we decided for dinner to make it kind of fun for the kids (and us!).  So, Nate made these Shamrock pizzas with our typical spinach pizza crust that you may have seen us use before and we just switched up the toppings.  We don't really want to be eating much of the pre-made vegan products, such as this daiya cheese, but we did want to try a few vegan products to see how they stacked up and it was treat for the kids. Which, by the way, they noticed no difference at all!   This crust makes about 3 large pizzas or 2 large and some crackers, which is what we typically do.  In this case we made 8 shamrocks and had some left to make crackers with.

Crust:
6 c. whole wheat flour
2 Packs or 4 1/2 tsps. of Active Dry Yeast 
3 tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Sugar
16 oz. Bag Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed - if you use fresh spinach, add more water
3/4 c. Warm Water
6 Tbsp Olive Oil
More Water if Needed

Pesto:
1 c fresh basil
1 c fresh parsley
1/2 c almonds or pine nuts
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 c. olive oil

Toppings:
20-30 cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 c mushrooms, sliced




can add fresh spinach also
8 oz. daiya cheese

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and water and let sit for five minutes or until foaming.
2. Using a food processor, pulse the thawed spinach until half-way pureed.
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt, sugar.
4. Add pureed spinach and olive oil followed with the yeast/water mixture. Stir until fully incorporated and proceed to knead until mixture is elastic-about 10 minutes. You may need to add a couple Tbsp of water. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover dough and let sit for 20 minutes.
5. Grind almonds up a bit in the food processor.  Then add the basil, parsley, nutritional yeast and garlic.  As you process those, drizzle the oil until everything is will mixed.
6. Roll dough out as thin as possible! About 1/8” is good. Use 4 glasses and paring knife to make Shamrock shapes. Be careful not to push the glasses down.
7. Top with pesto, cheese and toppings..
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes in 400 degree oven.