Caramelized Onion, Carrot, Zucchini, Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Whole-Wheat Pizza

Oh jeez blogger friends.  Life has once again gotten the better of me and kept me from sharing with you all.  I hope the recipes to come in the next few days will have been worth the wait!

Hubby and I LOVE pizza.  Seriously.  I could eat it for every meal, hot or cold, every day.  There's just something about the hot, melted cheese, gooey sauce, and chewy crust combo that gets me every time.  We have several local pizzerias nearby, but being on a budget I've been trying to come up with creative meals at home that mimic our favorite restaurant dishes.

I found Loves to Eat's super-easy (and healthy!) whole wheat pizza dough recipe and couldn't wait to add my own mix of seasonings and toppings for our dinner pizza.  Having an array of random veggies in the fridge, I ran with 'em and threw together something crazy...and it ended up being delicious :)  It also created one heck of a difficult time for me trying to come up with a name for it that wasn't a mile long.  Oh well :)  Let's get cookin'!

Have your carrot, zucchini and onion make friends on the cutting board.  They don't know what's coming next ;)

Shred your zucchini until it looks all purty like this:

And chop chop your onion into small pieces.

Melt a tablespoon or so of buttah (I used Best Life spread to save on cholesterol) in a saucepan over low heat.  Look at that beautiful melting action :)

Now your onions are going to take a little buttah bath for about half an hour.  Add them to your saucepan...

...and keep a-stirrin' and a-cookin' until they start to look like this.  Don't let them get out of the buttah bath yet, though.

Show your carrot friend some shredding action until you get this:

And join up Carrot and Zuke again for their Pyrex playdate before dinnertime.

While your veggie children are doing their thing, round up your dough ingredients.

Be a good veggie parent and check up on the buttah bathin' onions.  They should be close to finished by now...

...but wait until they are good and caramelized just like this before you take them out.  YUM.

While the onion children are drying off from their buttah bath, take your yeastie for a five-minute warm water bath.  There's a lot of bathing action going on here, isn't there?

In the meantime, mix up your whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt in a large bowl.

After Yeastie is good and bathed, pour it and Warm Water and Honey (I substituted agave since that's what we had) Friends in with the dry goods.

Then take the kids to Knead Town until they're one big baller shot caller.

Preheat your food sauna oven to 350 degrees, and flour your pizza pan.  I love this thing - proof that I actually do use all the random kitchen things we put on our wedding registry :)

Spread out your dough on the pan...

...and sprinkle with lots of za'atar.  Can you tell I love using this stuff? :)

Add some delicious sauce...

...and all your veggies.  Don't forget crumbled goat cheese, a little Parm, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and freshly-cracked salt 'n' peppa :)

Bake for 15 minutes until this thing of beauty appears out of your oven.  Hello, deliciousness!

Um, wow.  Best. Homemade. Pizza. Ever.  Who needs CPK? :)  The veggies and whole wheat crust are super healthy, and the caramelized onions are sweet and savory together with the sun-dried tomatoes.  Goat cheese is a perfect, creamy addition, and the spices add just a little kick to round everything out.  SO good!

Recipe: Caramelized Onion, Carrot, Zucchini, Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Whole-Wheat Pizza

Ingredients:

• Everything to make 1 recipe of Clean Eating Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp. butter or olive oil
• 1 zucchini, grated (equals ~ 1 cup)
• 1 carrot, grated (equals ~ 1 cup)
• 2 tbsp. za'atar
• 3/4 to 1 cup pizza sauce, depending on how much you like on your pizza (Hubby and I like a lot!)
• 2 oz. goat cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 sundried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
• freshly-grated salt and pepper

Directions:

• Melt your butter or oil in a large saucepan over low heat.
• Add chopped onions and cook until they caramelize and turn golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, grate both your zucchini and carrot, and set aside.
• While you're waiting on your onions to finish cooking, prepare your pizza dough.  Set onions aside when they're done.
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread your dough onto a floured pizza pan.  Sprinkle dough with za'atar.
• Spread pizza sauce over your dough.
• Add your veggies, cheeses, and top with salt and pepper to taste.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Enjoy!