Black Bean & Veggie Pizza

My housemate Mark, who is mostly vegan and used to own a couple of restaurants, came up with this quick recipe. We were all pretty hungry and so naturally, it was time to raid the fridge and cupboards for a "quick fix"... but what to make? Well, we had a can of Pillsbury pizza dough, assorted veggies, and some canned black beans, and voila! Dinner. I like how this man thinks!

Ingredients:

1 (15oz.) can black beans
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
Eggplant, thinly sliced
Red pepper, thinly sliced
onion, thinly sliced
tomatoes, cubed
Sprinkle of vegan shredded cheese
1 can of Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough
veggie meat (chicken style)

Spinz:

Roll out the dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Pre-bake the dough for about 3 minutes at 400 degrees. Whiz together black beans (drained), garlic, salt, cumin, white pepper, and olive oil until a smooth paste forms. Spread this evenly onto the crust, then layer the eggplant, red peppers, onions, tomatoes, veg cheese, and mock meat. The eggplant layered over the beans will keep them from drying out too much during baking. Bake an additional 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden and bubbly. Drizzle with hot sauce of choice (if you like), or top with guacamole.

























Here are what I like to call, "The Wild Turkeys of Davis." Although the land surrounding Davis is used for agriculture, we city folk don't consider ourselves to be a farm community at all! So why is there a band of wild free-roaming turkeys loitering on our front lawns and city parking lots? ... I like to think that they are refugees from the local turkey farms and have narrowly escaped the holidays, unscathed! Can't you just hear "Born to Be Wild" in the background?