Vegan Pizza and Salad Night!

Who said vegans can't have that slice of pizza?

Here's to my journey towards being Vegan!! It's been 10 days that I am keeping dairy away from my diet.  I have started  leaning into it (as kathy Freston suggests). I am still away from being completely  vegan as I still consume clarified butter (ghee) on my rotis. I find the ghee to be extremely effective for my skin, and ghee is excellent in balancing Pitta dosha. I am  not really sure that any other non dairy substitute can give me the same result. Until I find the substitute, I guess I can be semi- vegan. 


Anyways, the point is my first week was fantastic, already started feeling great about me and happy to make this meaningful change in my life.


Being believers of Ayurveda, our dinners are always light. We believe that we don't need many calories at night, when our stomach wants to rest, after the whole day of work, just like our body.  Some nights we have really simple dal and rice or lentil and rice khichadi, (mugachi khichdi) at others, a quick Varan Bhat (which is cooked toor dal , mashed up well with asafoetida, turmeric powder, salt and cilantro for garnishing and served over rice, with a nice dollop of ghee) We usually grill some vegetables to go along with it.


To celebrate my week, we had a Vegan pizza and salad. Usually when I used to have pizza I used to feel guilty after eating my slice, because of the heavy calories that it contains. The after effects of this meal wasn't the same though. I felt very light and fresh after this meal, and most importantly felt extremely good that no one had to suffer for my dinner.


Hubby, who is still vegetarian and haven't started thinking about being vegan yet, also enjoyed the meal as much as I did. "Doesn't feel like this is a vegan cheese!" Those were his words after having the first slice..:)


I have tried a couple of different cheeses (vegan of course) from different companies,  I have found daiya the best.


Ingredients-:


For the pizza-:

• Whole grain Lavash- as a pizza base
• Sliced veggies of your choice for the topping- I used onions, artichokes, bell peppers, black olives
• Non- dairy cheese- I used daiya- cheddar style shreds.

• Organic pizza sauce
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Olive oil

For the Salad-:

• Chopped up Lettuce leaves
• Grilled Asparagus
• Grilled Brussels Sprouts
• Sliced carrots
• Black beans
• Lemon ginger sesame as a dressing.

Grill the veggies in the oven before tossing the salad together. I have this perforated pizza pan that I used for the first time and it really helps to crisp out the base really evenly.

I don't think this entry needs a procedure. Pictures will speak for itself. 

Ready to go in!

After Coming out!

Please don't disturb! I am too busy tossing my beans!

Almost Done!!

Slice in the Focus!

Salad in the Focus!!

Time to switch off that TV and focus on your plate!! 

Grab a "fork"!!!