Saturday night I decided to make the Smoked Tempeh Pizza With Carrot Pesto. I used tofu and mushrooms in place of the tempeh, because that’s what I had, and I substituted walnuts for the olive oil in the pesto. The results were delicious, and the most impressive part was the crust! I’ve tried making gluten-free crusts before with very mixed results (mostly bad), and this crust was simply perfect. It’s thin and a little crunchy—just my kind of crust. It’s made with brown and white rice flour, rice bran, and flaxseeds—very simple and very allergen friendly. I’ll be using this crust recipe a lot in the future!

Another thing I’ve made recently is this lovely dessert:

I made Chef AJ’s raw brownie recipe, pressed it into a pie dish lined with waxed paper, and made an “icing” out of almond butter, maple syrup and cocoa powder. Raw chocolate pie! It was so good!

I also have a few recipes I’ve been working on that I’ll post soon, including one that consists of rice pasta tossed in a coconut milk cream sauce topped with a mess of artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, capers, onions and garlic. It was delicious, and Kevin told me that I was allowed to “make this a lot,” so it’s definitely a winner! I’ll have the recipe up as soon as I have it finalized (I like to make things at least a couple of times before I post the recipe).

Also, I’ll have a recipe up soon for this lovely casserole, made with quinoa, chickpeas and veggies (oh, my!).

I love good-quality vegan pizza. Load up some first-rate crust with fruits/veggies and/or vegan meat substitutions and some Daiya, and I’m in heaven. That’s why I’m happy that such top-flight Fort Worth pizza providers as Chadra Mezza and Mellow Mushroom offer Daiya and veg-friendly pizzas. Conversely, there are few things I dislike more than bad pizza – bad sauces, lame toppings, middling crust. When pizza is high quality, there are few more amazing foods, but when it’s bad, it’s really bad. Frozen pizzas, along with virtually all the major pizza chains, almost universally fall into the “bad pizza” category for me.

So it was with some nervousness that we tried the (new?) Tofurkey frozen pizza the other night. More specifically, we had the Tofurkey Sausage and Roasted Veggie model. Looking at the box, something surprising pops out – Daiya! Yes, frozen veg pizzas with Daiya are out there in the world now. The question is, would Tofurkey climb out of the “bad pizza” dregs to make something edible or, dare I dream, actually good?

I have a weird relationship with Tofurkey – I really don’t like their signature item, the Tofurkey itself, but I do like a lot of their other stuff. Success with these frozen pizzas wasn’t guaranteed, then.

The pizza cooked up in the oven and out it came. It was heavily loaded down with Tofurkey sasuage and lots of veggies, and indeed, the melty deliciousness that is Daiya is there as well. It’s a thin-crust style, which is OK by me, and seemed to cook up pretty nicely.

I’m happy to report that this Tofurkey veg pizza is thoroughly good. It may be one of the best frozen pizzas I’ve had, which still can’t compare to a really great pizza, but this isn’t your average grocery store frozen pizza nightmare. It’s pretty darned good. The Daiya helps a lot, but the sauce, Tofurkey sausage and veggies are very flavorful and make it hearty without being too over-filling. Even the crust is pretty good.

If you want to stock up on some frozen pizzas to tide you over when you’re not making your own or getting something from a really nice restaurant/cafe, the Tofurkey pizzas look like a good veg-friendly option. There’s this sausage & veggie version, as well as an extra-Daiya-y cheese version and a Tofurkey pepperoni version. We found them at Whole Foods, though presumably they’re available in other higher-quality grocery stores.

What’s more, Nehme’s exploring offering up more vegan options!  It’s fantastic to see more vegan goodies popping up in the Near Southside.  Now, you don’t have to leave the district to get a vegan pizza with Daiya.

Chadra Mezza & Grill 1622 Park Place Fort Worth, TX 76110 chadramezza.com