You want pizza.
But all that bread is heavy, and you know you really should cut back.  And the cheese (yes even the Daiya) is full of fat, oil, and extra calories and is definitely NOT helping your waistline….. (and you can never stop with just 2 pieces anyway).
What do you do?
Something quick, something light that will fill you up, and something that  will satisfy a pizza craving…...
Stuffed Pizza Potatoes!
This was a totally random, let's make something new, recipe night.
I was thinking about twice baked potatoes or potato skins, but definitely wanted a pizza flavor. Â Sauce or no sauce? Â Cheese or no cheese? Â Baked or nuked?
Not really knowing what I was going to do - Â I grabbed 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes and the rest just kind of happened naturally.
Pizza stuffed potatoes are perfect for a light dinner or snack. You get all the pizza flavor without all the heavy breading and fat promoting cheeses.
First off - The Spuds
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash and dry the 2 Yukon Golds and pierce them several times with a knife or fork so they won't explode in the microwave.  Microwave each potato on high power for 4 minutes.
These babies will be hot when done, so carefully place them somewhere safe to cool.
Second - Veggies
Chop half of a red onion and half of a red bell pepper and toss into a small saucepan. Â Drain and rinse one of those little 4oz cans of mushroom and add that too. Can't have pizza (or pizza stuffed potatoes) without garlic so smash and chop a clove or two and add that as well.
To soften these veggies without burning, add 2 tablespoons of low sodium vegetable broth. Â Finally add a teaspoon of dried Italian Seasoning and another teaspoon of dried Basil. Â Heat this mixture on med-low heat until they are nice and soft.
Third, Â The Creamy, Cheese-like Filling
Now carefully cut each potato in half lengthwise. Â Don't cut them in half . Â You want two wide and shallow boats compared to 2 narrow and deep ones if that makes any sense.
Now using a spoon, carefully scoop out most of the cooked potato leaving about ¼" or so of the meat and skin.  Place the extra potato in a separate bowl.
Bake the scooped-out skins at 400 degrees for about 15 -20 minutes.
To your bowl of potatoes, and add 3 tablespoons of unsweetened almond milk and 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast.
Stir with a fork until creamy and smooth.
Finally, The Assemble
Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling back into each potato half. Â Then you want to kind of mound a tablespoon or so of the veggies onto the filing, kinda smooshing them down so they stick. Â Yeah that's a technical word - smooshing.
At this point I had also already chopped 2 small tomatoes, so here I added some tomato pieces too. Â And finally I shook on some Vegan Parmesan.
Now were starting to look like Pizza Stuffed Potatoes! Â Yum!
Put these bad boys back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes and cook until heated through and the parmesan gets a little toasty.
Vegan Parmesan
If you've never had Vegan Parmesan before, I have to tell you this stuff is amazing. Â It's crumbly and a bit salty, just like the real thing, but the cashews add some all-importantTbs fiber not to mention a little iron, potassium, and magnesium. Â And it's dairy free with only the healthy fat.
- ¾ cup cashews
- 3 Tbs nutritional yeast
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Add all the ingredients to a blender, chopper, or food processor and blend until uniform and powdery.
Pizza Stuffed Potatoes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: American
Description
Pizza stuffed potatoes are perfect for a light dinner or snack. You get all the pizza flavor without all the heavy breading and fat promoting cheeses.
Ingredients
- 2 lg Yukon Gold Potatoes
- ½ Red Onion ((diced))
- ½ Red Bell Pepper ((diced))
- 1 can Mushrooms ((4oz))
- 3 Tbs Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 2 Tbs Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
- 1 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 2 small Tomatoes ((diced))
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Wash, dry, and pierce the potatoes
- Microwave each potato for 4 minutes
- Saute onion, pepper, and mushrooms in veggie broth until soft
- Add seasonings to veggies and stir
- Carefully cut each potato lengthwise
- Scoop out potatoes until only ¼" of skin remains
- Bake potato skins for 15-20 minutes
- While skins are baking, add the potato pulp to a bowl with the almond milk and nutritional yeast
- Stir potato filling until creamy and smooth
- To assemble - spoon 1 Tbs of filling into each potato
- Top potato with 1 Tbs of veggies, chopped tomato, and vegan parmesan
- Cook for 5-10 minutes until heated through and parmesan is toasty
Jana
Don't be shy with the veggies! Very, very good! 🙂
Liane
I'm going to have to try this! I know I'm a little late to the party, but a word on the vegan parmesan - I'm always looking for ways to save money, and cashews are pretty expensive, so I've made my parmesan with walnuts and you know what? It's delicious! Doesn't really taste like parmesan but it's a wonderful flavor!
I've been preoccupied with other things but intend to start trying some of your recipes again. Keep up the good work, Chuck!
Kim
I've just been reading through your potato recipes, and right before this one I was reading about hash brown waffles and smushed baked potato waffles, and thought one of those might work as a base for a pizza as well. I'll have to try it soon! I miss pizza. ? but now I can have a much healthier version! ?
Chuck Underwood
Wow - thanks everyone for the nominations. I will gladly accept one of them, and respond in kind, once I finish my work week! This coming week is my long week at work so I'm not going to be able to get to this until Sun or Mon. I was flattered that both of you would give me the same nomination. Thanks!
Jen
Hi, I'm Jen from http://www.happyvegans.blogspot.com (Happy Vegans
in the Florida Keys), I've nominated you for a Liebster Award. As I was posting this, I see you were just nominated. I'm so sorry, I don't know how I overlooked that, I actually checked out your blog, read a bunch of posts, but didn't catch that sooner. Anyway, I'm keeping my nomination, I like your blog. If you choose to look at the 10 questions I got for you, yyou'll find your 10 questions on my blog post today. I hope you will accept one of your nomination sand participate. Thank you for your hard work on your blog! Jen
Maggie
Hi Chuck! I nominate you for the Liebster Award for Vegan MoFo. Please see details here: http://vegfiend.blogspot.com/2014/09/vegan-mofo-liebster-award.html
Rosie Parfitt
What a great idea! I will definitely try this idea 🙂