Mini Vegan Pizza Pies

how did my foot get in this picture? :/

Pizza pies, ah, is there anything better?

Well, to be perfectly frank, yes.

Mini Pizza Pies! :D

(Although they look rather gargantuan in the picture, I assure you, they're mini).

Just the idea of a pizza pie brings me back to that one summer I was living with my housemate and her (now ex) boyfriend, and how all we used to do was sleep all day and eat pizza pies at night.

Well... I guess we did other things to like play video games, watch movies, and groan like zombies when we were plastered to the floor from the brutal heat...

 

But mostly, I remember the pizza pies flowing in abundance. 

It was a good life. It was a fat life. 

But these pizza pies are different!

They're not loaded with lots of bad fats and they're just as delicious as "normal" ones, which, in my opinion, makes these the superior pizza pies! ;)

And, of course, they're vegan! :P

Mini Vegan Pizza Pies

Ingredients 

• 1 medium sized onion
• 300g of Tempeh 
• 1 tablespoon of Vegan Butter
• 2 cans of Diced Tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of Tomato Paste
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 2 teaspoons of Soy Sauce
• 2 teaspoons of Salt
• 2 teaspoons of Nutritional Yeast Flakes
• 2 teaspoons of dried Oregano 
• 2 teaspoons of Onion Powder 
• 1 tablespoon of Rice Bran Oil
• Simple Vegan Pastry
• Thick 'n' Creamy Vegan "Cheese" Sauce

Note: If you have olives, then feel free to add olives to the tempeh mixture. I completely forgot to, lol. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 180C (356 Fahrenheit).

Dice the onion and garlic and add it to a pan on a medium heat with the tablespoon of rice bran oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes until they begin to sweat and lightly brown on some parts.

Next, dice up the tempeh into small cubes. Alternatively, you can steam or boil the tempeh for 10-15 minutes and then mush it together with a fork (or potato masher) so it become more of a "mince" consistency, but I quite like them as chunks so that's what I did. :)

Add this to the pan with the onion and garlic and cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

As the tempeh is cooking you want to then roll out your pastry until it's about 1/2 centimeter thick. What I do then is cut it into squares and then place the squares of pastry into muffin molds. I cut around the edges, once they're in the molds, so that they become circular. 

ha, ha, I'm so messy with these kind of things. :P
You can spend more time making them neater, if that's your thing. :)

I put the newly formed pie pastry into the oven for 10 minutes to partially cook.

While the pie bases are cooking in the oven, add the rest of the ingredients (except the "cheese sauce") to the pan, and cook while the pastry is cooking. 

After it has been 10 minutes, take the pie bases out. Now's the fun part (well, apart from the eating them part). 

Fill each pie with about a spoonful of the tempeh mixture, and on top of this put about half a spoonful of the "cheese" mixture. Then put the tray back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

Pop them out of the muffin tray and eat them a your leisure. The hardest part will be trying not to eat them all at once, trust me. :) 

Makes: 18-24

 xo.

Moonlight

Thick 'n' Creamy Vegan "Cheese" Sauce

When you mention going vegan to people, a lot of the time their first reaction is to think of all those creamy dishes which they wouldn't be able to have if they went vegan too.

Visions of satin-like ice cream, luscious, creamy cheeses, and chocolate - oh god! Don't take my chocolate! - pass through their mind.

These realisations usually follow with a form of weeping. Not necessarily crying (on the outside at least), but there's no mistaking the heartache in their voice.

When I first told my housemate I was going vegan I distinctly remember her crying out, as if to curse the heavens, and rambling nonsensical things about never having ice cream and cheese ever again.  

That was until I told her that you can still have those things!

And the good news is, that not only do they taste great but they're a whole lot healthier for you!

Oh, yeah! 

So, here's a recipe that will change the minds of almost any non-vegan.

Thick 'n' Creamy Vegan "Cheese" Sauce

Ingredients 

• 3 1/2 cups of Cashews (preferably organic)
• 300g Silken Tofu 
• 1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Rice Bran Oil (vegetable or canola would work too)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of Salt
• 2 teaspoons of Onion Powder
• 2 teaspoons of Garlic Powder
• 2 teaspoons of Mustard Powder 
• 3 Tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast Flakes 
• 2 Cups of Water (preferably filtered)

First you will need to soak the cashews for 6 hours (or overnight). Once they have been soaked for that amount of time you then boil them for 10-20 minutes (time will vary depending on if you have a powerful blender or not. More powerful=less time boiling. I boiled mine for 20 minutes because the blender I use is pretty weak). 

Let them cool for 10-15 minutes before putting them into a blender.

Once cooled, place into a blender with 1 cup of water, and blend until it is mostly blended. It can still be chunky, that's fine. :)

Depending on the type of blender you have, you may need to stop throughout blending to scrape down the sides, or turn the mixture so that it blends properly. 

Now, you can add the tofu and begin to blend again. Stop every so often to gradually add another cup of water, and blend until almost smooth. 

Lastly, add the remaining ingredients to the mixture and blend again until it is smooth. The smoother you want it the longer you will need to blend it. I only blended mine for a few minutes, so it's not as smooth as it could be, but I like it this way. :)

After blending, taste the mixture to make sure it's to your liking. You may find that you want it "cheesier", or saltier etc. If that's the case just add more of those ingredients to the mixture and blend once more so they're properly combined. 

Now simply pour the mixture into a large, airtight container. You can keep this for up to a week in the fridge. :)

Hope you likey, likey! ^_^ 

Things to do with your vegan "cheese" sauce:

Mini Vegan Pizza Pies

xo.

Moonlight