Zucchini Summer Pizza

Appetizer, Dairy-Free, Entree, Gluten-Free/Wheat-Free, Multi-Veggie, The Recipe Redux, Vegan, Vegetarian (lacto-ovo)

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Recipe Redux – July, 2013: Have Snacks, Will Travel

When I travel, my favorite snack to take with me is chopped veggies and hummus. Usually I chop and bag a big variety of veggies into sticks and bite-size pieces. Of course, after my snack bag is full, I often have extra veggies left in my the fridge.

What to do with the leftovers? My favorite dish to use them in is Zucchini Veggie Pizza. Right now there are really great zucchini available out on the market- perfect for this use. The fresh zucchini slices replace the traditional pizza crust, cutting both calories in the dish and the time needed for cooking.  In addition to your veggies, fruit like pineapple adds great flavor too. Many different cheeses work great including feta, ricotta, mozzarella or Parmesan.

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Zucchini Summer Pizza, shown topped with baby bella mushrooms, red and orange bell peppers, scallions, radish, baby mozzarella and fresh jalapeno slices.

For dairy-free or vegan options you can use dairy-free cheese, or omit the cheese altogether (Tip: if you do omit cheese, drizzle the pizzas with a 1/2 teaspoon of of olive oil each to add a bit of fat. This will help you maximize your absorption of nutrients from all the great veggies). Top with a few fresh hot pepper slices to give dish a real zing (avoid using the marinated peppers, as they usually contain too much salt per serving.)

With over a cup of veggies per serving, this may be the healthiest pizza you ever bake! These are fun for kids to assemble too.

INGREDIENTS
1 medium Zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 6 even slices
3-4 tablespoons Tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon Oregano
1/8 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
1-2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Basil, sliced
2/3 cup Veggies, assorted colors, sliced (such as mushroom, pepper, onion, broccoli, artichoke, tomato, olive, spinach, radish, scallion, etc)
1 tablespoon Cheese, low-fat, shredded (optional)
6-10 slices Jalapeno (optional)
As needed Fresh cracked pepper

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a bake pan with parchment paper.

Lay out zucchini slices on parchment so that the slices slightly overlap each other, forming 2 rectangles, each rectangle having 3 zucchini slices each. Divide tomato sauce between pizzas and pour over zucchini. Sprinkle oregano, garlic, basil  and red pepper flakes onto tomato sauce. Decorate each pizza with a 1/3 cup of assorted veggies. If using, top veggies with cheese and/or jalapenos. Add fresh ground pepper to taste.

Bake until veggies are al dente and cheese is melted, about 12-18 minutes. Carefully remove pizza from parchment with spatula. Serve warm.

Serves 2.