vegan pizza

So to my utmost glee, I have come to the conclusion that I might not be glucose-intolerant. I am a bit of a self-diagonising hypochondriach whose most recent kick was glucose intolerance. There is a history of chron's disease in my family, and hey, better safe than sorry. However, due to the nature of my blog and the more adventurous side of me- I will still continue to strive to create recipes without gluten. However, the first thing I wanted when I decided I was able to digest this ever common protein- pizza. The dough is delicious, cheap, and handmade, but it's not gluten-free. This recipe is however,vegan.

For the crust, I used a pre-packed crust mix which is basically just flour, baking soda and yeast. I added 1/2 cup of hot water, and oil. Not to be too obvious, but I would just follow whatever is on the packet- there shouldn't be any need for milk or eggs, but typically oil can subsitute eggs fine. For the topping I just added a little bit of marinara sauce, cut up some mushrooms, cale and asaparagus. It was simple, but pretty delicious. I also brushed a mixture of garlic salt and oil on the pre-baked crust too which added a little extra. Pretty straightforward, but good! Maybe it will give you some ideas of making your own pizza.

Farmer's Market

All week I waited on edge for the Saturday morning, Irvine Farmer's Market to approach. I hadn't been before which is crazy since when I'm home {in Colorado} I live for the thursday evening farmer's markets. I woke up early, went with my roommate, and found myself tempted by WAY too many stalls and booths. I could go on and on, but I think some of the pictures I took will explain themselves pretty well....

my first cake {I call it the pineapple, peach, strawberry, glaze right-side up cake}

Today marks the day in every sweet-toothed gluten free, vegan's life (yes all 6 of us :-P) when they realize that it is possible to bake. Not just bake, but also bake something that tastes good. Today I attempted to bake for my dear vegan friend, a birthday cake. Since I am on a gluten free kick too, heck, why not also make it gluten free? So I ventured all the way out to Albertsons (yes, they had options there) and bought a Gluten free, Betty Crocker yellow cake mix. This lady is my new hero. The cake called for 3 eggs, and 1/2 cup of butter, but instead I added 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce and the cake turned out wonderful.  For the topping I added about 7 fl ounces of canned peaches, chopped and the juice with about 2 tbsp of apple sauce, about 10 fl ounces of diced pineapple and the juice with 4 chopped strawberries. I added 2 tbsp of agave syrup and about 2 tsp of cornstarch. It was sweet, and really good, and added the right touch since the cake seemed less sweet to me than normal cake does. VICTORY!

Here is a summation of my ingredients:
 for the topping-
3 chopped strawberries
10 fl ounce of canned diced pineapple and the juice
7 fl ounce of canned sliced peaches and the juice (both had no added sugar, and were in their own juice)
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 tsp cornstarch

 for the cake-
1 box betty crocker gluten free yellow cake mix
1 cup of unsweetend applesauce
2/3 cup of water

I baked the cake for about 30 minutes at 350 and heated the juices, syrup and cornstarch over the stove top briefly to thicken before adding in the fruit.