Southwestern Pizza and Heart Healthy Pizza Review.

Heart Healthy Pizza, by Mark Sutton is a book that grows on you slowly with the incredible possibilities packed in the compact handy book. The book is organized in chapters that include crust, sauce, and cheese-like toppings, whole pizza ideas, chapters on plant-based eating, fats and oils, cooking legumes and grains, general and recipe indices.

Each chapter has an introduction with tips and techniques. There are more than 60 topping sauces, a lot of bottom sauces, crust options including gluten-free crusts and pizza combinations with the crusts and sauces. The sauces are very versatile and can be used in bowls, salads, pasta too.

There are gluten free options, soy-free options, and nut-free options, and a diverse palette of tastes and textures. The out of the box recipes can make you pause and think about them and when you try them, you realize that they can be easily built up to personal taste and texture preferences. 

From the book:
“The Heart Healthy Pizza cookbook contains over 100 delicious no-added oil, plant-based recipes for making pizza. Through the imaginative use of grains (oats, quinoa, millet, and others) as well as legumes (such as chickpeas, black eyed peas, dal) and various vegetables (artichokes, carrots, corn, cauliflower…), unique “cheese-like” sauce recipes are made that range in taste and texture profile from a delicate velvety sauce to a custard firmness. Most are gluten-free. Coupled with recipes for crusts (including gluten-free versions), several bottom sauces and total pizza concepts, this easy to use book will help anyone create scrumptious and delectable pizzas. “

What I would have liked in the book.
Pictures of the pizzas. There are none except the cover. I am a visual person like many others. Photographs of at least a few pizzas will be incredibly helpful. The sauces created from grains and beans are something many people would not have made before and a picture would definitely help in understanding the consistency and behavior of the sauces.

The recipes are written like paragraphs without enough space breaks between them. It can get confusing to keep track of where a recipe ends and the other one begins while working in the kitchen. This probably is just my personal preference of the layout. 🙂

There are innumerable possibilities of combinations with the pizza crusts and the sauces (which can get overwhelming). and there are some Pizza recipes in the Powerful Pizza possibilities section. When I come upon a sauce I really want to try but am not sure of what veggies, toppings etc would work with it, I tried to find an example and couldn’t. The book could probably benefit from cutting down on a few of the similar cheese sauces with similar taste and texture profiles, and instead having at least one pizza combination using each of the sauce with suggested toppings and crusts or maybe suggested pizza ideas listed with each of the sauces. 
The sauces are very intriguing, but they will not behave like cheese. They are quite different, but can be built up to taste preference. 

These issues however do not take away from the incredible resource that this book can be, in cooking out of the box and creating healthy Pizzas. 

I made the Southwestern special Pizza from the book topped with most of the toppings and a Millet Avocado Oregano Sauce. I used the Black Bean Wheat Crust, but replaced the beans with Pinto Beans. When I make it again, I will toss the beans in chili powder, salt and tabasco to coat evenly :). If you are not used to eating a no oil, no grease Pizza/cheese, this will be a big change, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea.  

Steps:
Shape the crust and load with spinach, tomato and pinto beans. Toss them pinto beans in more spices. 



Add the rest of the toppings and pour the millet dressing on top.  top with cilantro, salt and chili powder and bake. i used less topping sauce for the pictures. Add more to preference.



This pizza is loaded and very filling.

Note: I was asked to review the book by Mark and had a free copy. The opinions are my own. 



Southwestern Special Pizza with Wheat Black Bean Crust and Millet Oregano Sauce. From Heart Healthy Pizza.
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, soy, nut.

CRUST:
• Basic Pizza Dough or Black Bean Wheat crust (below) or use any of my gluten-free crusts here
LAYERING INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cup raw spinach (chopped)
• sliced tomatoes
• 1 cup cooked pinto beans (rinsed and drained)
• chili powder
• 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
• fresh coriander (optional, chopped)
• 1/2 cup corn
• sliced black olives
• red Tabasco sauce (optional)
• Quinoa, Artichoke Hearts, and Sunflower Seeds Sauce (p. 62) or Millet,
Avocado, and Oregano Sauce (p. 51)
• ground black pepper or paprika

METHOD:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 or 450 degrees F. (depending upon your oven)
2. Sprinkle spinach onto prepared and shaped dough.
3. Arrange tomato slices on top of spinach.
4. Sprinkle the pinto beans on top of the tomatoes.
5. Sprinkle lightly with chili powder.
6. Layer the onions.
7. Sprinkle on the coriander.
8. Sprinkle the corn onto the pizza.
9. Arrange olives on top.
10. Put drops of Tabasco sauce on (to taste).
11. Pour on the topping sauce.
12. Sprinkle with ground pepper or paprika.
13. Bake pizza for 15 to 20 minutes.

METHOD:
1. Rinse and drain beans, then puree in a blender or food processor with 1/3
cup water until smooth. Add water as necessary (in 1 T. increments).
2. Whisk together warm water, sugar, yeast, and bean puree.
3. Mix together flours and salt, add slowly to yeast mixture (if not using a
bread machine, stir as flour mixture is added).
4. Knead until the dough is elastic, let rise, covered, for at least an hour.
5. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
6. Shape pizza dough on a lightly oiled non-stick baking sheet.
7. Arrange toppings and sauce(s) on top of shaped dough.
8. Bake 15 to 20 minutes (or until toppings are cooked through).

NOTES:
• Whether making dough by hand or with a bread machine, it might be
necessary to adjust the amount of flour or water in 1 T. increments to get
proper elasticity.

• This recipes makes two finely textured 12 to 14″ pizza crusts.

Recipes Printed by permission of Mark Sutton.

You can buy the book on Amazon here. 

Mark is also graciously giving away a copy to one of the blog readers in the US!
Please enter to win at the widget below.