Tiny Red Kitchen: Healthier Rachel Ray French Onion Dip Pizza Made Vegan!

Many of you know not to get in between me and a piece of bacon, but recently John and I have been trying to eat a lot less meat and dairy.  All the more reason not to bicker with me over bacon...tho I have both made and purchased faux bacon it is not the same.  A fair replacement for a healthier life, yes, the same? GET OUTTA MY WAY, there is SOME BACON over there!*

*ahem*  

One of our carnivorous delights (even for me, the non onion eating Femme Fatale) was Rachel Ray's French Onion Dip Pizza.  I made it for John out of love and the adoration that comes of newly wedded bliss (sans Petites). I made it just for him, but then there might have been some wrestling over it once I had "my bite".  You can find the original recipe here on Rachel Ray's site.  French Onion Dip Pizza.  OMLAWDY!

In order to attempt making this Vegan French Onion Dip Pizza...this cheese and dairy rich little darling, I searched for a few recipes.  It is fairly simple to replace sour cream or ricotta in a recipe using tofu.  Since the pizza requires creme fraiche I used homemade vegan sour cream.  Since I like cooking from scratch and avoiding all the chemicals used to make vegan substitutes, I made my own ricotta sour creamy mix loosely based on Veganomicon's Ricotta recipe.  (Thanks for loaning that cookbook to me Whitney!)  I'm pretty sure it was tofu since I was out of cashews, they had two different recipes.  I added in some pureed walnuts & sunflower seeds, lemon juice, nooch aka nutritional yeast, a bit of olive oil and maybe that was it?

We bought vegan mozzarella shreds for the top.  we usually just skip cheese on pizza now. I know.  

I know.

I know.  And six months ago I would have agreed with you....but try it.  Even order delivery pizza without cheese.  It is still AWESOME.  Or light cheese if you must.  You will be surprised at how unnecessary cheese is when you realize it can feed cancer in your body...and if like me everyone around you drops like flies from cancer at some point. 

I was THRILLED beyond belief to find a vegan Gruyere Cheese recipe   One of the things that makes Rachel Ray's French Onion Dip Pizza so delicious is the sharp, pungent snap of Gruyere.   GOT IT.

My Culinary Confessions blogger, I bow so low at your feet for this recipe it may appear as if I am kissing your feet.  Actually, just licking vegan Gruyere Sauce from your kitchen floor.  OMLAWDY.  This Vegan Gryueyre Cheese Sauce SMELLS AND TASTES just like Gruyere   Of course it is a sauce, and doesn't have the chew or stretch of cheese butwhoneedsit?

Then I tried a new pizza dough recipe.  I make my dough all the time, often trying new recipes but rarely getting perfection.  I googled New York Style Pizza Dough, and HEAVEN came down to this family.  Well, to me at least.  This came out wonderfully chewy but the littles had trouble with it.  Forget them.  They can have applesauce!


You can find the New York Style Pizza Dough on allrecipes here.  I lost my bread machine paddle somewhere in my Tiny Red Kitchen, so I used the Kitchen Aid stand mixer instead.  I'm also terribly impatient so I didn't let the dough rest overnight, it may have gotten an hour and a half or so total rise time.  It was AWESOME.  

The verdict was Veganized Rachel Ray French Onion Dip Pizza:  MARVELOUS.  John said "This is really good, Honey!" and "I want to eat it all!"  The girls both ate it but Portia left the crusts which she does on most pizza anyway.

If you are trying to eat healthier and would like me to recreate your recipe but vegan, I would LOVE to take the challenge.  And yes, Smarty Pants, I can recreate fried chicken.  So There.

*But let it be said, after eating plant based more often, meat and dairy is not as saliva worthy as it once was. My palate has changed!  I do turn up my nose now at flaccid greasy bacon commonly offered at buffets.  Now that I see bacon as a treat instead of daily fare, I hold out for only the most bacony baconess there is.