This recipe is for that girl you can’t live without. Your best friend, your sister, your mom, whomever it may be–show them you love them by making this delectable heart beet pizza, complete with a side salad! Ok, you can also make this for your male/other friends too, but the point is, this pizza came about because of the spirit of Galentine’s Day!

My friend Brooklynne recently rebranded herself on social media as Beets by Brooke. Adorable, right? We met through mutual friends in the vegan community in Dallas, and have become quite close in the past half year or so! Brooke and I are both passionate about health and good food, and we both love beets, so we decided to do our first ever #beetcrush collab! Read on to find our cute recipe for Galentine’s Day, or Valentine’s Day, take your pick, it’s the season of love all around. We’ve put together the perfect simple 3 course meal for you and your best gal or valentine this year. Inspired by an epic meal at Lil Nonna’s in Austin, TX, we decided to try our hand at making beet pepperoni. Get ready for some gorgeous pizza, salad, AND dessert, all made with the beauty of beets. Give yourself at least 2 hours to make all the various components you need for this pizza, and prepare the beet pepperoni the night before so it can marinate. To save time, I also recommend preparing the caramelized onions and the garlic cashew cheese sauce (recipe below) the night before. You can also prep the dessert ingredients the night before!This pizza is so good, it’s hard to make just enough for dinner. So the measurements below are enough for two pizzas! That way, you’ll have enough for dinner and for the morning after…what? Cold pizza is the best kind of breakfast. 🙂 

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Beet “Pepperoni”
makes enough for two thin crust pizzas
+ more for a side salad

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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Wait Time: Overnight

Ingredients: 

• 3 to 4 small red beets, washed and peeled (no need to peel if you plan to steam, see step 1 below)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons ume plum vinegar (or more red wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon liquid aminos
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup filtered water

Method:

1. First, decide if you want to pre-steam the beets beforehand. Steaming the beets adds about 15 minutes, but it does make taking the skin off easier, and results in a more tender beet slices. Not steaming the beets results in a more chewy texture. I’ve done this recipe with both steamed and un-steamed beets, with good results–it’s up to your preference, tender vs. chewy.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients and set aside.
3. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the beets. I used the second to thinnest setting, to get flexible slices that still have a bite to them.
4. Place the beet slices in a shallow container, and pour the marinade over them, tossing well to coat. Let marinate for 30 minutes, or overnight.
5. After marinating, cut the beets into heart shapes, using a mini heart cookie cutter–I used this one. The leftover pieces can be thrown in a salad.
6. The marinated beets can now be used for pizza and/or salads!
   Save the marinade to use as a salad dressing for later.

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Cashew Garlic Cheese Sauce
makes about 1.5 cups

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Prep Time: 20 minutes

In a high-speed blender, blend the following until smooth:

• 1 cup cashews, soaked the night before (or boiled for 15 minutes)
• 6-8 cloves garlic (about 2 tablespoons minced garlic)
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened nondairy milk (we used cashew)
• sea salt, to taste

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Whole Grain Herb Crust
makes enough for 2 thin crust pizzas

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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Wait Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 packet rapid rise yeast
• 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)

Method: 

1. Mix the warm water and rapid rise yeast together in a bowl and set aside for a few minutes.
2. Whisk together all the other dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the water and yeast mixture into it. Mix well with your hands.
4. Add more flour/water as needed. Knead for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and easy to work with. Set the dough aside in a greased bowl, wrapped tightly in plastic. Let it rise in a warm place for 20 minutes, or until doubled in size.

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Heart Beet Pepperoni Pizza
makes 2 medium thin crust pizzas

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Wait Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• whole grain crust (see above)
• pizza sauce, any kind
• garlic cashew cheese sauce (see above)
• a few handfuls of baby spinach, cut into ribbons
• caramelized onions (we used this method)
• beet pepperoni (see above)
• walnut parmesan, for serving (see below)

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Divide the pizza dough in half and roll out to form two pizzas. I love making oval-shaped pizzas, but you can also roll the dough into traditional circles if you like.
3. Place the pizza dough on two baking trays, lightly greased with olive or coconut oil.
4. Roll and pinch the edges around the pizza dough to form a crust.
5. Assemble the pizza toppings to your liking.
6. Bake the pizzas for 20 minutes at 375 F, or until the crusts are golden.
7. Let the pizzas cool for 5 to 10 minutes before eating, if you can manage it!

Serve with a side of salad! Our salad consisted of roughly 2 cups of baby spinach + 2 cups of lacinato kale (stems removed), massaged with the leftover beet pepperoni marinade (massaging the kale is key, do not skip this)!The marinade made a great vinaigrette for our salad, and we added the leftover marinated beets to the salad as well. We also sprinkled some vegan walnut parmesan on top of the pizzas and the salads. I have a recipe for walnut parmesan below!

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Walnut Parmesan
makes about 1 cup

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

In a food processor, pulse together the following:

• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder or Mrs. Dash’s garlic herb seasoning

Add more salt or nutritional yeast to taste!
This keeps in a sealed container for up to a month, longer if kept in the fridge.

I hope you enjoy this pizza recipe! For dessert, check out the nana-politan ice cream that we whipped up! Recipe here.