Monday, August 20, 2007

Pizza with Broccoli Pesto

We had our family dinner on Saturday when scheduling conflicts arose Friday evening. We made a trip to Whole Foods in the afternoon, then came home and got busy making pizzas.

Chase has decided he loves pesto. I’ve made pesto maybe twice in the past year. So when I saw Celine’s recipe for Broccoli Pesto, I mean, how perfect is that for me and my family! This pesto so good and just beautiful. We had it as a snack with crackers, and then made it the base for our pizzas. I recommend all broccoli lovers make this pesto ASAP. (Celine, I also made some of your delicious cookies I’ll get to in the dessert portion.) Here’s the pesto.



We made two pizzas, one on a pizza stone and one on a baking sheet. They both were made with homemade whole wheat crust and topped with pesto, then spinach, then sauce, then veggies – zucchini, mushrooms, onions, red peppers, tomatoes – then lots of tofu and some cheez for Chase, and finally topped with fresh parsley and basil. It was so tasty you get 4 shots.









I also made two salads – a green salad, and a white bean salad with red pepper, tomatoes, purple onion, and a light dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and parsley.




I think this next picture is a little blurry, but doesn't my table look unusually sparse?



I made Peach Muffin Cake for our dessert. I used this recipe, which I love because it has no sugar in it. I had run out of spelt flour as the recipe called for, so I used 1 cup oats and 1 cup GF baking mix for my flours. I also didn’t need to add any apple juice to my batter, and I diced all the peaches. I did add a bit of sucanat, because I had a mix of farmers market and store bought peaches and of course the store boughts weren’t sweet enough. My family likes sweets, but like many of you, what we really like is flavor and this cake really lets the peaches shine through.



It was especially good slightly warmed with Good Karma Very Vanilla ice creme. This is hard to say, but Good Karma is right up there with my hometown NadaMoo!




Earlier in the week I made Celine’s Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies. Please make these awesome cookies using brown rice and spelt flour. Two sugar free, wheat free treats for me in one week!




I’ve also enjoyed Celine’s Rice Flour Banana Muffins. I think I’m hooked on brown rice flour now, but I’m not complaining.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

brown rice flour is so good!! I wonder why it took us so long to start using it more?? I put it everywhere now. even in the crust for the kahlua pie I made yesterday. craziness! thank you for trying some of my stuff, your pictures are stunning, as always!!!

Anonymous said...

ps: I worship thee because I now know what I will be making for lunch today. PIZZA with the leftover broccoli pesto and cheez sauce from last week! <3

Anonymous said...

That pizza looks heavenly. Brocooli pesto sounds really great. I love pesto soo much.

Anonymous said...

yummy post! thanks for the links, the bean salad looks wonderful

Emilie said...

great looking pizza! and nice substitution for the spelt flour--it looks like it came out beautifully. it's amazing how differently peaches taste when they're fresh from the orchard and not picked green, huh? like a different fruit all together.

Tofu Mom (AKA Tofu-n-Sprouts) said...

Interesting. Brown rice flour, huh? I may have to try this...

And the pictures? Oh my gosh they look heavenly!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

oh my goodness gracious - the pizza, muffin cake, muffins, and salads are pure bliss!!! can I come for dinner?? haha :0)

Judy said...

Wow, your pizzas look great. I love the idea of broccoli pesto - I will have to try that for sure.

The peach cake sounds interesting.

JENNA said...

wow broccoli pesto..i've never tried that. Your pizza's look sooooooo good and that's coming from someone who really doesn't like pizza too much.

Anonymous said...

Broccoli pesto! How cool is that? I have been on a huge pesto kick lately -- it helps that our local farmers market has a vendor that sells bags of basil for 50 cents (it takes about 2 bags to make a batch of pesto). I've been using it on everything -- pesto pizza sounds really good right now.

I loved seeing your beach pictures. You looked like you were having a terrific time!

Have a great week!

Ruthie said...

yum yum yum :-) :-)

So many Sundays I'm left wishing I was Chase. Hehehe! :-)

um yeah said...

I love your blog. Your food looks so good.

Kumudha said...

The pictures are very pleasing!

Sheree' said...

How I love pizza. I posted pizza this week too, but your sounds so much better. I was plain jane... just veggies..:o)

I will have to give the peach dessert a try. You cookie picture looks perfect enough to take a bite right out of the monitor.

Kayla said...

Mmm, broccoli pesto. A great way to get more veggies packed into a meal. Those pizzas look delicious. I also need to try using brown rice flour for GF baking. I never considered that it would also add a natural sweetness.

bazu said...

I love the idea of broccoli pesto- sounds so perfect! Hey, I think your table looks as beautiful and colorful as ever- can I be invited to dinner??

urban vegan said...

It's hard to beleive that people actually eat pizza with cheese when they could instead be feasting on these veggie-laden slices of heaven.

Celine's cookies look fab, too!

laura k said...

Wow, the pizza looks divine! I need to try the broccoli pesto...

I've missed your blog this week, but I enjoyed reading about your vacation. The beach at night with that gorgeous full moon must have been an incredible sight to see.

Jackie said...

Great recipes.

Thanks for the link to the broccoli pesto. I actually don't like broccoli but it is such an important veggie for women I need to find a way to have it that I might like.

Amey said...

Hi Diann,
Is spelt flour gluten free?? Or is it just another wheat-free option?

xo amey