Vegan "Cheese" Experiment

It's with a heavy heart that I share with you that I recently learned that I am lactose intolerant. Yes, the girl who loves cheese. . .the girl who loves yogurt. . .is indeed lactose intolerant. And like really. . .it sucks. Totally sucks. The crazy thing about it is, I've always eaten cheese and dairy and well, stuff with lactose. So, this sudden onset of lactose intolerance is just not cool.

At any rate, I decided that I didn't want my stomach to continue doing back flips and lunges and cartwheels, all while sending me to the bathroom every 10 minutes and making my boyfriend very. .. well, very uncomfortable. Lol

I've been experimenting with various recipes and while in Whole Foods tonight decided to make a thin crust pizza. I asked one of the associates if they carried lactose free cheese. I was then directed to the dreaded vegan section and told that a particular vegan cheese was "just like" real cheese. . .per the package, it melted and stretched and eveeerything. So, I opted to give it a try. To be fair, it wasn't awful, it just wasn't real Mozzarella. I love real Mozzarella, not the vegan counterfeit.

Needless to say, after preparing the pizza and incorporating the "cheese" like substance, it wasn't  horrible, like in all honesty it wasn't awful. The pizza was actually pretty amazing. What the vegan cheese taught me was that I really don't need cheese on my pizza as long as I top it with hella stuff. . veggies, meat, pineapple, just all types of "real" yumminess.

At any rate I recommend trying this recipe. If you're not lactose, but still want a lighter version of a fab pizza, just omit the cheese and put more veggies on it. The sauce was awesome, the chicken sausage was amazing and the tomatoes and arugula really made it delish.

Recipe: Vegan Cheese, Tomato, Chicken Sausage and Arugula Pizza 

Ingredients:
- Thin Pizza Crust
- Sundried Tomato Sauce
- Red Bell Pepper
- Yellow Bell Pepper
- White Onion
- Garlic
- 2 chicken sausage links
- Fresh tomatoes 
- Arugula
(Note* you'll see pictures of canned black olives and canned diced tomatoes, I ended up not using those, but feel free to use them if you'd like)

The "Cheese" - Teese Mozzarella

 

Step 1: Saute' bell peppers, onions and garlic for 5 minutes.

 Step 2: Prepare chicken sausage on George Forman Grill and cut into cubes

Step 3: Mix sundried tomato sauce with bell pepper, onion and garlic mixture. Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Step 4: Pour tomato sauce on pizza crust and spread

Step 5: Sprinkle cheese over tomato sauce 

Step 6: Add diced tomatoes, chicken sausage, arugula and extra "cheese". Bake for 15 minutes and serve! 

Finished product! 

Enjoy!