Pizza’s the food that sure to please…

….these Ninja’s are into pepperoni and cheese. Sorry, obscure Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle reference there. That is from my one of favourite songs (no seriously) from the first Ninja Turtle film sung by Partners in Kryme.  I love the giving away of the whole plot in the song lyrics the way that Sid and Marty Kroft used to do (Puffinstuff, anyone?) but also the lovely moral and rather Quakerly message of:

 When you stand

For what you believe in

And find the strength to

do what’s right

That’s Turtle Power.

Have you heard they are remaking the Ninja Turtles but are making them be from outer space? That is so wrong! Everyone knows it was the radioactive ooze in the sewer!

 

But anyway.

 

This is just your regular old pizza.

Red sauce

Red onions

Peppers

Mushrooms

Olives

Sweet corn (it’s a British thing)

And vegan mozzarella! 

 

Hells yeah! I found this recipe over on http://vedgedout.com

Fresh Moxarella Cheese:

This cheese stays in a “melted” type form until baked, and then it forms a nice crust, like dairy cheese does. It’s not intended to be eaten plain (like real dairy fresh mozzarella can). It’s also fairly salty to make it stand out in your recipes, if you prefer less salt, please feel free to reduce to 1/2 teaspoon, or less, but the flavor won’t be as pronounced.

• 1/4 C. raw cashews (soaked in water for several hours and then drained IF you don’t have a high powered blender)
• 1 C. hot water
• 2 T. + 1 t. tapioca starch
• 1 T. extra virgin olive oil (optional)
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 t. sea salt
• 1 t. fresh lemon juice

Method: Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into a small saucepan and cook, stirring constantly over medium high heat. After a couple of minutes the mixture will start to look weird, like it’s curdling or separating. This is totally normal, reduce heat to medium and KEEP stirring so you don’t burn the cheese to the bottom of the pot. Keep cooking and stirring til really thick (about 2-3 more minutes) and the mixture becomes like a cohesive mass of melted dairy cheese and stretches like in the photo below. Remove from heat and let cool a bit while you assemble the pizzas.

p.s. Moxarella stores well in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days and can be used to make excellent grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese, etc….

 

 It looked simple enough and made enough for 2 meals. I cooked it ahead of time to save time, refrigerated it and then plopped it on the pizza straight from the fridge.

 

It was surprisingly good. It reminded me of those balls of mozzarella made from Buffalo’s milk--which is also a kind of British thing. It was kinda bland but salty  just like mozzarella cheese made from animal milk, but it also had a stretchy quality to it.  The stretch was the coolest bit!

 

I firmly believe that compassion tastes better and discovering a way to eat something that tastes good, but doesn’t cause harm or distress to an animal is a win-win situation in my book.

 

Dairy cows go through something awful--they are dosed up with hormones and anti-biotics to make them grow at an unnaturally accelerated rate and then give them drugs to combat the diseases they get from living in their own filth. Most dairy cows have severe mastitis (infection of the udders) with open sores that leak pus into the milk.

 

They are serially impregnated by artificial insemination and then once they give birth, the milk that is supposed to be there for their baby is used to feed human beings. Doesn’t it ever strike you as odd that you are drinking the breast milk of a cow? The breast milk of another species? Human milk is for humans until they are weaned, cow’s milk is for calves. 

 

But also their baby is taken away from them (imagine ladies if your newborn was taken away from you) and there are hundreds upon thousands of documented cases of mother cows  and their calves calling out in agony and anguish for DAYS after being separated.

 

Female calves are then raised up to be milkers like their mothers and males are turned into veal. If you find the veal industry abhorrent, you need to know that by purchasing dairy products you contribute to the veal industry.

 

Lastly, cows have a natural life span of about 25 years, but in the intensive farming industry that is the standard, they are slaughtered by the age of four to five. Still just babies themselves, really. 

 

I cannot put my appetite before my conscience. In fact, the thought of suffering makes me lose my appetite completely. Why? Because I care. People do. We care deeply and no one wants to see another creature suffer. We love our pets, we would do anything for them. So why are some animals for loving and some for eating and wearing? Why have we, as a society, decided that some animals are worth caring about and others are not? Shouldn’t all life be sacred? Or is it a case of All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others?

 

Disclaimer: no animals were harmed in the making of this delicious pizza.