Vegan Butternut Squash Pizza

I love to invent my own pizzas, I used to go to the store buy a few of those boboli ready made crusts and whatever toppings I wanted to use and viola home made pizza. Its fun for the kids as well because they get to help put the toppings on and be a part of “making” dinner. So I got even more stoked when I first learned of the ready made pizza dough that you can get at Trader Joe’s. Its way better than the other stuff and really easy to work with. Over time I’ve gotten more creative with the different kinds of pizzas I’ve made but it all starts with what kind of toppings sound good to me and then you can start to vary the sauces you use and really get creative. That’s where this recipe came from. Well, it really started with the unused butternut squash sitting on my counter that needed to be used before it went to waste. I guess I have to be honest, and admit that a lot of my inspiration spawns from items that are in the fridge or cupboards that will waste if not used when we happen to have nothing on the slate for the evening for dinner, or afternoon for lunch. This one was really good, especially for an entirely vegan pizza. I usually make one vegan style for me and Ashley and one with regular mozzarella for the kids, and I will usually eat a piece or two of the kids’ pizza (as long as I haven’t used any meat for it) because there is still nothing quite like REAL cheese. But this one was good enough to quell the craving for the real stuff.

1 package trader joes garlic herb pizza dough
1 butternut squash
1 onion- diced
2 cloves garlic- chopped
2 packages diaya cheese mozz style shredded
small handful of brussel sprouts (about 2 cups worth)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 cups fresh kale- torn
3/4 cup almond milk
1.5 tbsp olive oil
coarse sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Half the squash and then cut the halves in half again, place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste then place in oven on 400 degrees and let roast for about 45min-1hr. Its done when you can poke it with a fork and the fork slides in like you are forking a piece of butter. after about 30 minutes of roasting check it, if its still really firm you can boost the heat to 450 and just check every 15min or so to see if its reached the desired tenderness.

While you wait for the squash you can prep the sprouts. Coat the bottom of a frying skillet with olive oil and about a 1/2tsp of salt, set the burner to med-high heat and then quarter the brussel sprouts and place in the skillet, let sprouts fry for about 4 minutes then add 1/2 the diced onion and a few more pinches of salt and some fresh ground pepper and continue frying for another 6 min or just check to see when they are browned, once they’ve been browned to your hearts content then stir/toss them and fry for an additional minute or two then remove from heat.

Once the squash and the sprouts are done, remove the skin from the squash and chop into bite size pieces. Take all of the squash, except the pieces you want to reserve for your pizza topping, and place in a blender or medium-large size food processor. Add the garlic, olive oil (1.5tbsp), almond milk, 1/2 cup of daiya, the rest of the diced onion and salt and pepper to taste and puree until smooth and creamy.

flour a flat surface for rolling out your pizza dough and proceed to roll out to your desired size/thickness, I rolled mine out to fit a baking sheet since I wanted it to be a thinner crust and my pizza stone is kind of small. Once the dough is rolled out, place on a pizza stone or a baking sheet and adjust the parts of the dough with your fingers in the areas that need to be filled out. Then lightly brush with olive oil. Use the squash puree as your pizza sauce, I just spread it out until there was a nice thin layer that covered almost every inch possible on the crust, leaving maybe a 1/4-1/2 inch of sauce/puree free crust edge. Layer the pizza with the daiya cheese until you’ve got good coverage or are satisfied, add the rest of the squash, your brussel sprouts, the kale and then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Then place in the preheated oven on 450 and cook for about 15 minutes be careful not to cook it too long, the trader joes crust will turn rock hard and be like a breadstick if you cook too long.