Mexican Pizza with Homemade Sour Cream

Wishing you all a belated feliz dia de independencia! I celebrated by polishing off the leftover of a series of Mexican pizzas I started this weekend, and topping it all off with delicious homemade vegan sour cream, which is the exact same recipe as yesterday's cream cheese- it amazingly works for both!

See more pictures on my instagram: @veganlifeisgood

Vegan Mexican Pizza (makes approx. 5, to serve right away or as delicious leftovers):
-5 whole wheat pitas
-1 pkg chipotle-flavored Seitan
-1 can low-sodium vegan black or re-fried beans (or sub soaked beans)
-1 small can green chilis
-1-3 tomatoes
-2-3 tomatillos
-2 small green onions
-shredded vegan cheese (Daiya "cheddar" works beautifully)
-salsa (I prefer chunky pico de gallo)
-small head red leaf lettuce
-vegan cashew sour cream (see yesterday's post here for the recipe!)
-cumin and/or vegan taco seasoning
-fresh cilantro to taste
Optional healthy fat: add sliced avocado

• Pre-heat the oven to 425. I wanted crispy crusts, so I left the pitas in the oven as it was warming, flipping them once. Meanwhile, chop the veggies and rinse the beans if needed, and heat a little oil in a pan.
• Lightly fry the seitan and tomatillos in the oiled pan with the garlic and green onion. Add the chilies, cumin/seasoning, and tomatoes at the end. Don't forget to remove the warmed pitas from the oven.
•  Layer the pitas with beans and the mixture from the pan, plus salsa, vegan cheese, and lettuce.
• Bake in the oven til cheese has melted and lettuce wilted, anywhere from 10-20 min.
• Remove from oven and top with any extra tomatoes, chopped cilantro, and a generous dollop of vegan sour cream. Enjoy! Que te pases un buen dia!

See more pictures on my instagram: @veganlifeisgood

See more pictures on my instagram: @veganlifeisgood

Homemade Vegan Cream Cheese/Sour Cream

Last night I made a couple of major discoveries.
The first was that I can make my own cream cheese/sour cream substitute at home with just some cashews and a few common ingredients.
The second was that they are the same recipe.

I made vegan, soy free and gluten free sour cream to add to a vegan Mexican pizza (delicious recipe coming soon). At first I was really taken aback by the flavor, probably because I was expecting it to be just like non-vegan sour cream, plus I'm not used to apple cider vinegar. I actually thought, "Ick." Then I tried some more. Then some more. Then more. I realized I was licking it off the rubber scraper, then diving back for even more.

I can't really describe how the flavor works. But it was amazing on the Mexican pizza, and also delicious the next morning on toast, as a cream cheese, with a fruity jelly.
I am really, really excited about it.

Homemade Vegan Sour Cream AND Cream Cheese:

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked a few hours or overnight
• 1/4 cup fresh water
• 1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• juice of once lemon
• dash of salt (optional)

See photos for steps! 1. Soak (then drain, of course!)  2. Blend  3. ServeI only had time to soak the cashews for about 2 hours, and it worked fine. I used the Magic Bullet blender, which made short work of things.

See more photos on my instagram: @veganlifeisgood