Crispy Thin-crust Personal Pizzas

Everybody has days they just want to curl up on their couch in front of old Friends re-runs and finish an entire personal pizza.

While you're at it, why not make this crisp, thin-crust. Full-on-flavor, generous-on-toppings personal pizzas?

They're light and heavenly, and leave room for that tub of Ben and Jerry's as a dessert.

Thin-crust Personal Pizza
Makes: 4 pizzas
Source: Starting Cooking

1/2 cup warm water
1 level tsp active dry yeast
1 level tsp sugar
1 1/2 cup plain white flour (not bread flour!)
1/2 tsp salt

Put 2 tbsp of the water in a small bowl and stir in the yeast and sugar. Leave it in a warm spot for about 15 minutes until mixture becomes frothy on top.

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl, make a well in the center and pour the yeast mixture. Add The rest of the warm water and mix until it forms a dough. Make the dough into a ball and knead it for 10 minutes. Cover in a bowl with a damp towel on top for an hour to let it rise.

Heat oven to 425F, after an hour remove dough and knead for five more minutes until smooth. cut into four equal balls and roll each into a thin circle. Place the circles on pizza trays or baking trays lined with cookie sheets.

4 rounded tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp water
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
Vegetables, sliced. (I used Mushrooms, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers)
Pre-cooked toppings (I used Ham, Roasted Kabocha Squash)
Cheese (optional)

Mix tomato paste with water and seasoning, spread evenly on four pizza bases. Top with raw vegetables of choice and cook for 20 minutes, ten minutes on the top shelf and ten on the middle shelf.

Out of the oven, top with pre-cooked ingredients such as ham, as well as cheese and other garnishing.

Falafel Patties with a creamy Tahini Dressing

See, one of the only reasons I could possibly picture myself becoming a vegetarian is because of god's gift to the cruelty-free eater: Falafel.

But, the not so wonderful thing about this heavenly food is that it. Is. Deep. Fried.
So you can imagine why I am not eating five falafel patties a day and swearing to go off meat entirely. Well, that, and the fact that I adore turkey. And Salmon, and tuna, and chicken.

You see my problem.

Baked falafel is often disappointing, and i rather have the occasional indulgence than being able to eat a less-than-spectacular patty more than 'occasionally'.

So, I thought: Pan-fry.

So, I thought: Pita bread instead of burger buns

So, I though: Tahini! It should be illegal to eat a chickpea, or a chickpea-containing food item, without rich and creamy sesame seed butter.

So, I thought:

Three Elements.
Perfect pita, Fantastic Falafel, Terrific Tahini Dressing.

I dare you.


Homemade pitta bread
Source: 101 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 cup of warm water
4 cups of bread flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Dissolve in the yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water and set aside, covered, for 15 minutes. Dissolve salt in the remaining 1 cup of warm water. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Add yeast mixture and salt water. Knead with hands for 10 minutes in the bowl. Add olive oil and continue to knead until all oil is absorbed. Shape into a ball in the bowl, cover, and place in a warm area to rise until doubled in volume (2 hours). Punch down the dough and knead for 5 minutes more. Preheat oven to 175°C, and lightly oil baking trays. Take pieces of dough slightly larger than an egg and roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of 3/8 to 1/4 inch. (For larger or smaller pita bread pieces, take more or less dough). Prick the bread with a fork in several places. Place on baking sheets and bake at 175°C on the lowest oven rack for 2-3 minutes, then turn the pitas over and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a tray and cover with a clean dishtowel. When thoroughly cooled, pitas can be stored in plastic bags in the refrigerator, or frozen.



Falafel Patties
Makes: 5 patties
Source: 101 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes

1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas), coarsely pureed
1/4 cup loosely packed parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped green onions and tops
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup plain flour
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil cooking spray

 Mix garbanzo beans, parsley, chopped green onions, garlic, lemon juice, flour and cumin in bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper. Shape mixture into 4 'burgers' spray a large skillet with cooking spray; cook over medium heat until hot. cook 'burgers' until browned on the bottoms, 3 to 4 minutes. Spray tops of 'burgers' with cooking spray; turn and cook until browned on other side, 3 to 4 minutes. Arrange 'burgers' in pita breads; drizzle scant 2 tablespoons Tahini dressing over each 'burger'. Garnish with chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, arugula and onions, if desired


Tahini Dressing

 1/3 cup yogurt
2-3 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2-1 tsp lemon juice

 combine all ingredients; refrigerate until ready to use