Spinach Feta Pizza

I really love pizza. It’s such a simple dish with endless possibilities, and can be catered to your every whim and desire. This recipe was adapted from one I found in The Vegetarian Grill. Easy to prepare and quick to cook, it’s perfect for a weeknight dinner or gathering with friends.

Spinach Feta Pizza
Makes 2 large pizzas

2 pkgs refrigerated pizza dough (such as Pillsbury)
1 pound spinach
2 T olive oil
2 T minced garlic
1/2 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8 oz feta cheese, crumbles
1/2 Vidalia onion, or other sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, thinly sliced

Unroll refrigerated pizza dough on baking trays and prepare in oven according to package directions.

Steam spinach just until wilted, about 3 minutes. Drain well and squeeze water out. Coarsely chop.

After you’ve removed the pizza dough from oven, brush each with 1T olive oil and scatter 1T garlic over the browned crust. Sprinkle with half of the Parmesan cheese and top with half of the spinach, half of the feta, half of the onion and half of the sliced tomatoes. Repeat layered toppings on 2nd pizza.

Cook pizzas in 350º oven for about 10-14 minutes.

Slice the pizza and serve warm. Enjoy!

Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad

A lifetime fan of pickled beets, I only recently realized that there is an entire world of beet recipes out there just waiting to be discovered.

Before embarking on a beet cooking expedition, and assuming that beets do not naturally come from a jar, I knew I needed to learn more about them.

Here’s some of what I learned. Beets are:

• Roots with long leafy stems, which need to be removed before eating
• A good source of vitamins C, B, potassium and fiber
• Sweeter with time, but should be used within a week of purchase
• Used to dress hamburgers in Australia

For my first attempt at preparing fresh beets, I decided to start with something easy and quickly found the perfect dish from Vegetarian Times:

Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad
Serves 6

To roast beets: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line baking sheet with foil. Pierce 6 medium sized beets (scrubbed & trimmed) with fork. Place on baking sheet, and roast 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours, or until tender when pierced. Let cool slightly.

If you are short on time, the beets can be cooked by placing in boiling water for 20-25 minutes after scrubbing, trimming green leaves and cutting into wedges.

While beets cook, spread ¾ cup chopped walnuts (or pecans) in small baking dish, and bake at 400ºF until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool.

Trim and dry 4 bunches arugula, and tear into large bite-sized pieces.

To make dressing: Combine ¼ cup cider vinegar, 1 T Dijon mustard, 1 T thawed frozen apple juice concentrate, 1/3 cup finely chopped shallots, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp ground black pepper. Gradually whisk in 1/3 cup olive oil. Spoon half of dressing into large bowl, and set aside.

When beets are cool enough to handle, peel and cut each into 8 to 12 wedges (if you haven’t already). Add beets to dressing in bowl, and toss well. (If desired, marinate beets, covered, in refrigerator up to 2 days.)

To serve, toss arugula, beets and reserved dressing in large salad bowl. Sprinkle with toasted nuts, and serve.

The resulting salad is sweet, tangy and satisfying, yet I know that it barely scratches the surface of the many beet recipes available. I will definitely continue my beet recipe exploration soon!

PETA…preaching to the choir?

I think PETA puts out some great materials on vegetarianism. They are informative and well produced. The thing is, I fear that they are preaching to the choir. I mean, before becoming vegetarian, any mention of PETA put me on alert, even caused me to cringe and look the other way.

This happened for a few reasons…mainly, I wasn’t educated about PETA. The only times I’d heard about PETA was in the news when there was some type of protest outside a fur coat store or puppy mill, with lots of ketchup shlopped around for effect. They seemed like extreme people with too much time on their hands and for that reason, I chose to plead ignorance about PETA and their worthy mission.

The process of becoming a vegetarian required a lot of information gathering, and much of this was made easier be PETA and their readily available resources. Through the process of gathering information about my new vegetarian lifestyle, I was able to learn more about PETA’s causes and the progress they make everyday toward ending animal cruelty around the world.

To give you an idea of the volume of their work, here is a list of what PETA has accomplished so far in 2008 (news headlines):

• H&M Refuses to Buy Mulesed Wool
• Nike and Cole Haan Ditch Fur!
• Retail Chain Pet Supplies ”Plus” Stops Confining Dwarf Frogs to Tiny Plastic Cups
• Animals at All Creatures Great and Small Get Reprieve
• PETA and Harris Teeter Reach Agreement on Groundbreaking Animal Welfare Plan

Seriously, I’m amazed. These PETA people are busy.

I recently found the below video clip on You Tube, which is meant to convince the viewer that a vegetarian lifestyle is the way to go. Why did I find this? Because I’m a curious vegetarian. What do I think about it? It’s accurate and honest, and really reaffirmed all of the factors that made me become vegetarian, but it could seem really intimidating and extreme to non-vegetarians, and possibly turn them off to the idea of vegetarianism completely.

My point is this: I think that the more PETA can deliver their message in a level-headed, non-extreme way, the more support and attention they will get from vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. What do you think?