Vegan Comfort Food: Reuben Pizza (Women with "Friends" Take Heed and The Four Agreements)

Just like the reuben sammich only better because it's a pizza!

We did have a few leftovers. . . only a few though!

I cook and bake by my own personal cravings. If I have taste or temptation for a certain meal, it is on the plate that night. I would what you might call an "emotional cook"--it would be hard for me to run a restaurant kitchen as my mood "food swings" can be crazy--I respect chefs. What sounds yummy at noon, may be icky later in the day. Most of the time, these cravings and desires don't manifest themselves in me until after four in the afternoon. I can make every attempt to pre-plan and menu select in the morning, but if four o'clock rolls around and my desires have shifted, so be it.


So it was that I had a big appetite for a reuben sandwich several nights ago. One of my favorite all-time sammiches is the portabello veggie reuben. I found the best recipe for this in a favorite cookbook of mine: Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. I have made and re-made this recipe a dozen times--and always, always love it! I tweek ingredients each time--but the basic premise of the reuben are always there (sans the pastrami). Therefore, this recipe served as a guide for my vegan rueben pizza. I found I had craved this too late in the day to run to the store for the proper bread: rye. The downfall of the "emotional cook." (I wouldn't think of trying a reuben without rye bread on hand--it seems almost sacrilege.) I had all of the other basic ingredients on hand--just not the bread. So, I thought further about the reuben as when I have a yen, it takes hold and really never lets go. Feed the craving--and most of my focus was centered on a favorite vegetable of mine: cabbage. I love cabbage. I love it in coleslaw, in soups, wrapped around other veggie parcels, as sauerkraut, stuffed in egg rolls--it is one of the most versatile of veggies if you ask me. Alas, I found my answer--make a pizza dough out of rye flour--which I just so happened to have in my pantry. I've mentioned my bread machine and my love for it. I have a recipe booklet that accompanied this bread maker and within its slim pages is one of the most perfect whole wheat pizza dough recipes there is. (I have the Breadman and bought it at Target.) It is my go-to pizza dough--and all I need to do is place the ingredients in the maker, set the program on dough and viola--in an hour and twenty minutes (to be exact)--I have pizza dough.

This recipe is very easy--subbing a bit of the flour with rye flour yields a wonderful flavor to the pizza dough. This recipe is very straightforward and totally delish! I loved it as a leftover the next day--cold from the fridge--and had it for breakfast!

A brief Vegan Thyme side note:
My blog is my personal and creative journey--albeit in a public forum, as are most blogs. My intent in creating my blog was to post my vegan recipes and hope that what has been enjoyed by me, might likewise, be enjoyed by others and thus, inspire someone to make a vegan recipe for dinner or for dessert--nothing makes me happier than to have someone love a post so much that they feel they'd like to try it--and then post about it themselves. The same holds true for my other pursuits: knitting, running, gardening, etc. I love getting feedback and I love my cyber world, my cyber friends. I like to keep to the food as much as possible. But when I have a terrible moment and it interferes with my life and my motivation for something I am passionate about--vegan cooking and my blog, I need an outlet for expression and perhaps, a bit of condolence as I heal. As many of you know, in October, after a long search, I both found my father and I lost my father in one day--it made for a rough holiday. To top that off, I also have another family crisis for which I am on constant alert, worry and watchfulness. As for my note above to women--I had the most unfortunate experience of having a friendship come to an abrupt end this week on top of everything else. This was not one of my "lifetime" friends, but someone with whom I have recently "friended" over the past few years. It was a kick to my gut that sent me into a depression (and am still reeling from it) and bewilderment about women and how we are such a strange gender. (I took many "gender" classes when I was an English student.) I say "women and a strange gender" in the same breath as in, when I shared this with my husband (a male) his reaction was that of, first--sorrow and anger for my suffering and tears, but then head shaking and "that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard" comments after. (This hurt so much that I missed cooking dinner, have lost motivation for cooking and spent quite a bit of time under the covers with a box of kleenex at hand, then was getting so worried about my emotional fragility that I phoned my personal spiritual guide for assistance.) She recommended I read "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. Along with her other sage words of advice--I immediately found this book in my basement and began to re-read it. If you have not read this book, it is a life saver for me personally. I had forgetten how powerful its message was and how relevant it is to daily life. I am re-beginning a new journey of my own this week after this horrible "friend" experience. In quite clear language this book offers the following list--short, simple, direct, meaningful and so very consoling in a difficult time--to further explore its meaning, I highly recommend this book:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

I won't foster any ill will here in my blog but say only this: being a woman of a certain age and having "true" friendships becomes harder the older we get--our trust and inner skeptic and compass can guide us--but sometimes we ignore these signs. Life can throw you curves. I have learned yet another bitter lesson about my gut, about trust, about perceptions and jealousy and envy. I will never make that mistake again.

Now for the recipe. I actually made this recipe last week (again, my cooking mojo is off)--I have a few other back recipes that I will hopefully be able to share in the coming days, but in the meantime, just know I am trying really hard to get my vegan cooking/baking back in gear.

Vegan Reuben Pizza

For the dough: *If you do not have a bread machine, knead this by hand for 10 minutes, let it rise in  a lightly oiled bowl, and cover it and set aside in a warm spot for an hour. Then give it a second knead and let rise another half hour, prepping the pizza pan and oven during the last half hour. Spread it out to fit your baking pan.

1 cup water at 80 degrees
2 tablespoons oil (canola or olive)
1 tablespoon sugar (I used Florida Crystals)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rye flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturer's directions. Set on dough cycle--or as stated above, knead and let rise by hand. Preheat oven to 425. Remove dough from machine or bowl, spread dough on a lightly oiled pan and stretch and mold it to desired pan size. Place dough in oven and bake for about seven minutes. If your dough comes out a bit more puffy after baking, that is okay--it will calm down after you get the toppings on it and all then rebake it prior to eating.

Pizza Toppings

3 large potabello mushrooms sliced about 1/2 " thick (if you have a package of baby bellas--that is okay--just don't over cook them)
1 can sauerkraut drained
1 package vegan mozzarella cheese (shredded) *I have not been able to find vegan swiss in block form yet.

Place potabellas on a grill or in a saute pan (but a grill would be better) and cook them until they just begin to release their juices--about 5 minutes per side. Remove from heat and prepare the sauce. I like to use my stove top grill because it leaves the grill marks.

For the sauce
1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 diced roma tomato
4 scallions (white and green parts) chopped
2 teaspoons horseradish
1 teaspoon Spike seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons tomato paste (*I keep a tube of tomato paste on hand to cook with)

Place all ingredients in blender. Mix well--but sort of pulse to keep it from getting too runny. If you find it is too runny, just add more tomato paste to thicken it up. Now, assemble the pizza. Spread about 3/4s of the sauce on the  baked pizza crust. Next, add the drained sauerkraut evenly over the crust. Next, take the mushrooms and spread evenly over the pizza. Finally, drizzle the last bit of sauce over all of this. Sprinkle with a bit of Spike and/or salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle some vegan mozz. or swiss cheese over and bake for 14-15 minutes. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then slice and serve! This makes a great leftover!