Easy Vegan Sausage and Pepper Pizza and Avocado Caesar Salad

We have semi-officially made Sunday nights pizza night around here (well, this is our second time in a row :) We really enjoyed this pizza by Minimalist Baker last week (see my post about it here), so we decided to do a variation this week using Tofurkey Italian sausages. We used the refrigerated dough from Trader Joe's last week and planned on using it again, but they were out this time and it was a bit late for me to try to make my own, so we went with the pre-shaped frozen dough instead:

It turned out really well and made the process even easier! Plus it came with two crusts, which is perfect for this recipe.

Vegan Sausage and Pepper Pizza Recipe (adapted from Minimalist Baker): 

Ingredients:

• Frozen pizza crust from Trader Joe's (both crusts in the package)
• 1 jar of pizza sauce from Trader Joe's
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 package of baby bell peppers from Trader Joe's, sliced (or about 2 regular sized bell peppers, your choice of color)
• 1/2 a red onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. each of dried basil, dried oregano, and garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 2 Tofurkey Italian sausages, sliced into pieces
• 1/2 cup or so vegan parmesan cheese (made by blending together 3/4 cup raw cashews, 3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast, 3/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. garlic powder in a blender or food processor until mealy, or about the same texture as the packets of parm you get with pizza. It keeps in the fridge for about a month, and I use ours all the time!)

1. Preheat oven to 425 F degrees, with the rack in the middle of the oven.

2. Unwrap the pizza crusts and allow them to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes while you prepare the veggies.

3. Bring large skillet to medium heat. Once hot, add 1 Tbsp olive oil, onion and peppers. Season with salt and herbs and stir. Cook until soft and slightly charred, 10-15 minutes. Set aside.

4. Place each crust on a flat, lightly floured cutting board or baking sheet before assembling. Spread desired amount of pizza sauce on each crust (I used about 1/4 of a jar for each pizza and refrigerated the rest), avoiding the outer crust so it can rise properly. Distribute the sauteed veggies and the sausage slices, half on each pizza, and sprinkle vegan parmesan on top.

5. Carefully slide the pizza off of the baking sheet or other flat surface into the oven so that the pizza is directly on the oven rack. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes until edges are lightly browned. (Note: one pizza serves two people, so I bake one that night and put the other one, fully assembled on a baking sheet and covered with saran wrap, in the fridge to bake the next day).

6. Serve with extra vegan parmesan and red pepper flakes, if desired.

I also thought it would be fun to have a salad on the side, and found this recipe for an avocado-based vegan Caesar dressing. It came out great and Daniel absolutely loved it! Just a warning that it is very garlic-y with 4 cloves, which we actually liked, but you could probably easily reduce the garlic to 3 cloves instead of 4-5.

I made us each a simple salad of chopped Romaine lettuce, a dallop of dressing, and some of the vegan parmesan on top. Delicious! There was quite a bit of dressing left, so I am keeping it in a jar in the fridge for leftovers tomorrow night.

This was a great combo and we're looking forward to having it again tomorrow! I hope that you enjoy your own pizza night!