RECIPE: Veggie “Pizza” Bowl featuring Cheezy Pizza Sauce

Have you noticed that most of my recipes are of dips and sauces? Haha! Well, we use them a few times a week, whether over pasta, for veggies or potatoes. I’m constantly coming up with new ways to sneak in some extra nutrients into Willow’s diet and since she is incredibly finicky (although, she is getting better), I have to get really creative. I already have a Cheezy Tomato Sauce recipe on the blog that contains lots of veggies, but I needed something that was faster to make…something that could be whipped up in a few minutes to feed my hangry toddler! When I created this recipe, I had no idea what I was making, but I was hoping it was going to taste good. It’s become a favorite over these last few months and I just haven’t gotten around to sharing it until now. When I put some in a dish for Willow to dip potato wedges in, she screamed, “It tastes like pizza, mama!” So, I had to call this Pizza Sauce.

Our latest favorite way to use this “Pizza Sauce” was in a Veggie Pizza Bowl! Here’s what we had in our recent bowl:

• Roasted Brussels sprouts (seasoned with garlic + onion powder; baked for 35-40min stirring halfway through, at 400F)
• Roasted broccoli (same as sprouts above)
• Diced raw red pepper
• Sliced raw red cabbage
• Sautéed garlicky kale (one bunch of organic lacinato kale cooked with a bit of fresh and granulated garlic and a touch of coconut oil in a cast iron skillet)
• Arborio rice (quinoa is also great, but Arborio rice cooks up super fast in the rice cooker)
• Other ingredients that we’ve used: roasted cauliflower, spinach, carrots, roasted potatoes, caramelized onion

CHEEZY PIZZA SAUCE {vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free, nut-free option}

What you need:

• 1 – 14.5 oz BPA-free can of organic diced tomatoes (stewed tomatoes work well, too or you can use fresh)
• 3 Tablespoons non-fortified nutritional yeast (such as Sari Foods or Dr. Fuhrman)
• 3 Tablespoons raw cashews (preferably soaked for 3-4 hours)*
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or can use a few fresh basil leaves)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic (or fresh garlic cloves)
• 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt (optional)

* NUT-FREE option: the very talented and creative Margaret over at The Plant Strong Vegan used cooked chickpeas in a recent sauce of hers and I can vouch that it tastes great! So for all of you nut-free peeps, you can still make this! I would start with 1/4 cup of cooked chickpeas and add more if needed…all depends on your desired consistency.

How to:

1. Throw everything into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth! That’s it!
2. You can eat as is or gently warm it on the stove. It tastes delicious cold, but when heated over the stove for a little bit, it thickens up and the flavors have time to meld together. We’ve used this as an actual pizza sauce on crust, a dip for potato wedges, poured over gluten-free noodles and a dip for roasted veggies.

You can add more oregano, basil, garlic and onion powder – I kept this fairly mild seasoning-wise as Willow likes things on the milder end.

Thanks for stopping by!

❤