Vegan Pizza with Sunflower Seed Crust

These little goodies were a delightful treat for dinner last night.  There are two more crusts left, I think I'll make two more and use the rest of the sauce in some whole grain pasta with some greens for dinner tonight.

This is an easy crust that can be made in the oven or a dehydrator.  Making the marinara sauce and crusts on the weekend and storing for up to a week in an airtight container, makes for a quick, nutritious, and tasty meal during the week.  Just pour on some sauce, a couple slices of zucchini or whatever veggie that happens to be around and bake for 10 minutes.  You can use raw sunflower seeds or soaked and dried sunflower seeds.  I buy my seeds and nuts in large quantities, soak them, and dehydrate them so they're handy.

Sunflower Seed Pizza ~ Vegan & Gluten Free
This is my version of a recipe from Deliciously Organic.

Makes about 6 – 6″ pizzas

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds (I used soaked and dehydrated seeds, but raw or toasted seeds will also work well)
2 roasted red, orange or yellow bell peppers
1/2 teaspoon dried basil and oregano
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

For the Marinara:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (24-ounce) jar crushed tomatoes (I used home canned organic tomatoes)
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, rosemary, and oregano

Any other toppings of your choice: mushrooms, tempeh, basil, greens, etc.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300ºF, adjust rack to middle position, and place a pizza stone or pizza baking sheet in the oven (the stone/pan needs to preheat along with the oven). Place sunflower seeds in the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely ground. Add bell peppers, Italian seasoning, sea salt and cheese.

Process until smooth.
Place a small sheet of parchment paper on the counter. Place a 1/4 cup scoop of dough on the parchment. Spread dough into a 6″ round. Bake on the preheated pizza stone for 20 minutes.  I used the dehydrator at 115º flipping after about three hours.  They were ready to use in about two to three more hours, crisp, but still a bit pliable.  They are going to bake in the oven for another ten minutes, so not quite crispy is desirable. I don't know, is there an 'al dente' for seeds and nuts?

Meanwhile add the marinara ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Remove crust from the oven. Top with 2 tablespoons marinara and sprinkle with a few tablespoons of toppings of your choice. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve.

I used simple toppings, thinly sliced yellow zucchini, some of the roasted peppers I used for the sauce, and Daiya vegan cheddar and mozzarella style cheese.