Coconut Milk to the Rescue!

Hello my lovelies! What a summer! It is flying by. The kids are already back in school (that's how they roll in the south...no waiting for after Labor Day down here!), and I can feel the days starting to get shorter. Forget that! I decided to ignore all the signs that autumn is right around the corner by walking around the house in my bathing suit, making fruit juice cooler spritzers, sitting in my backyard under the umbrella beside my pretend pool, and of course...making pizza! When my sister and I were kids in Brooklyn, we'd have pizza pretty much every Saturday during the summer after going to our Girl Scouts meetings. Nothing on earth like NY pizza-hands down.
Just because I'm now vegan doesn't mean that I was going to give up my love of pizza...nope. I usually just make a tomato based one (see my last post), but this time I wanted some "cheesy" goodness.
I love coconut milk, and always have a can or three on hand (not the watered down refrigerated carton stuff, but the really creamy canned type. Just make sure your can is BPA free). There's usually fresh coconuts in the house as well. Native Forest is a canned brand that is both organic and BPA free.
I knew I could make a white sauce that would satisfy my "cheesy" desire using coconut milk, garlic, and other spices. I went on a hunt and...yes! I was finally inspired by the sauce in this recipe by Sweet Beet & Green Bean. Plus, it looked deeelicious!
Here you go.

Nikki's Spinach &Tomato White Sauce Pizza

White Sauce
2 garlic heads
1/2 cup organic canned coconut milk (see my note above)
Salt & pepper to taste

Crust
1 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup oat flour (or you can just use 2 cups total unbleached all purpose flour)
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano and rosemary
14 tsp allspice

Toppings
3 cups baby spinach
1 large onion,  chopped or sliced
1 cup kale, roughly chopped, stems removed
1 large vine ripened tomato, sliced
3 thyme sprigs

Sauté all in 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Ok, Now What?

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut off tops of garlic heads. Brush with a bit of olive oil. Place on foil or baking sheet in oven for 45 min to an hour.
3. Make dough for crust. Mix yeast, sugar, allspice, oregano and rosemary in small bowl. Add warm water (not hot or you could kill the yeast...eek!). Within 5-10 minutes, it will proof, or foam.
4. Add olive oil and salt to yeast mixture. I used a mechanical sifter to add the flour to ensure adding slowly and evenly, but you can just make sure you add slowly. Add a bit of flour to counter, table, or cutting board and place dough onto it. Knead gently for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and form into a ball. Place in bowl, cover with towel and set in warm area to rise (this took an hour or so for me).
5. Sauté above veggies, except for sliced tomatoes. Lay tomato slices in pan after and gently heat each side for about a minute. Set veggies aside.
6. Take garlic out of oven after an hour, they should easily pop out of casings once cooled. Pour coconut milk into blender, add garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Blend until even.
7. Once dough is ready and about doubled in size, preheat oven to 450 degrees and lightly flour your hands. Place dough in baking pan (I used my pizza stone), and shape into a crust, shaping edge. Or you can be a fool like me and try to spin in the air as if you have that gift and dare it not to fall on the floor!! Ha ha. Thankfully, it didn't...and it was fun. 
8. Brush the pizza crust with about a tablespoon of olive oil and place in oven for about 10 minutes to lightly brown.
9. Remove crust from oven, pour coconut garlic sauce over crust and add all veggies except tomatoes. Layer tomatoes on top. Remove thyme leaves from sprigs by grasping with thumb and forefinger and using other hand to pull leaves off in opposite direction. Sprinkle over tomatoes.
10. Bake at 450-475 for another 10-15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!!!

So? It was totally worth it! You could not taste the coconut milk at all...it just gave the sauce a creamy, cheesy texture and the garlic flavor was amazing. The crust was to die for. So easy and delicious. Soft and chewy and the edges slightly crisp...just how I like it. Great pizza...will add it to my arsenal. True to pizza form, it's even better the next day! If you try it, let me know.

That's it for now my lovelies! My first "Vegan Mommies" interview was completed and will post next. Enjoy the rest of your summer while you can. Until next time,

Love and Happiness, 

Nikki