Vegan Pizza Night with Phoney Baloney's Coconut Bacon

Oh, pizza, when will my love affair with you end? Probably never if my friends and I keep having build your own pizza nights. We each get a personal pan size crust and load it up with the toppings of our choice. Our most recent pizza night featured Phoney Baloney's Coconut Bacon. If you haven't had it yet, you must. Smoky, salty, savory and a little bit sweet, these are the perfect addition to a salad, sandwich or, in this case, pizza. We rounded out our topping selection with Victoria Vegan Alfredo Sauce, homemade marinara, sauerkraut, spinach, black olives, a variety of veggies and Teese cheese. By the way, Teese has reformulated and is extra amazing now- super melty and super tasty. Your move, Daiya.

What did my pizza feature, you ask? A gluten-free crust, with red sauce on one half, white on the other. The red side featured tomatoes, black olives, sauerkraut, Phoney Baloney's Coconut Bacon, red onion and mushrooms, while the white side kept it simple with more bacon, tomatoes and spinach, with both sides slathered in Teese. I love pizza nights because, with the use of pre-made crust, they are super simple for everyone involved- everyone just brings a few ingredients and is guaranteed to have a meal that they'll love. Long live pizza night!

Dante Pizzeria Napoletana: An Inferno of Delicious

Recently, Vegan Omaha held a meet up at Dante Pizzeria with the basic premise being all you can eat pizza. I can eat a lot of pizza. However, due to matinee tickets of Les Miserables, my mom and I were about two hours late and basically ran into people as they were leaving (my life is super rough, I know). We decided to stay and try the pizza out anyway and I am endlessly glad that we did.

Dante's has quite possibly perfected the pizza crust. Thin enough that it doesn't overwhelm the toppings, thick enough to stand up several toppings and an endnote of some seriously tasty crusts. The pizza we ordered was the Pollo made vegan (Teese in place of mozzerella, no chicken) and featured green garlic, spring onions, basil, roasted red peppers and Teese. It should be noted that Dante's doesn't always have Teese but a) their pizza is good enough without fake cheese and b) they are considering adding it to their regular menu.
In addition, we ordered some warm olives and some sort of amazing mushroom dish that wasn't on the menu that day but was the best thing I'd eaten in quite some time. Unfortunately, they didn't photograph well (lots of brown), so you'll have to use your imagination.

Dante Pizzeria Napoletana is located in The Shops of Legacy at 168th and Center, so it's a great vegan option for when you have to travel way out west. Though you may have to spend a few seconds veganizing something on the menu, it will be absolutely worth it. Also, they play great music.

Yay for Yia Yia's!

The bread is also vegan. Score!

My love for Yia Yia's pizza goes back to eighth grade, the first time I ate at their establishment. Cozy, a little bit dark, with outstanding food, Yia Yia's has held a place in my heart from the first time I took a bite of their pie. I've always loved Yia Yia's for the fact that you can order by the slice, preventing any topping related fracas among friends, but also allowing you to try crazy combinations (sauerkrauts, potatoes and almonds, anyone?) without committing to the whole pie. My love for Yia Yia's was finally cemented when I found out that they had vegan cheese for their pizza. As a new vegan, I had condemned myself to a sauce-only existence when it came to dining out, but Yia Yia's showed me the light and I now know better.

Up until a week ago, I thought I couldn't love them any more. I was wrong. They introduced a whole wheat crust. The new crust is thick, a major change from their traditional thin crust. It's also fantastic. It held up perfectly to the onslaught of ingredients I requested on my pie (black olives, sauerkraut and garlic), without overpowering their flavors. The thick wheat crust is a welcome option at Yia Yia's and will most likely be my go to from now on.

Yia Yia's is located at 14th and O Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's a great place to take anyone- friends, family, meat eaters, vegans and picky eaters. Seriously, I've never heard anyone say they don't like Yia Yia's.

Waldo Pizza

As I've mentioned several times before, I adore pizza. One of my favorite pizzas can be found at Waldo Pizza in Kansas City. Though I've mentioned it before, I've given given this fabulous pizza joint the individual post it so richly deserves. Located in an unassuming building, the place is always busy and consistently delicious. They offer vegan cheese and a variety of impressive toppings, with my personal favorites being kalamata olives and sauerkraut. To be completely honest, you can't go wrong here. The website offers a vegan menu to guide you through your selections and their cupcakes are to die for. However, if you plan to stop in for a bite at night during the weekend, you will have a wait in front of you, but Waldo Pizza is definitely worth the it. Also, they have Trivial Pursuit cards on the table to keep you entertained. Be sure to get some leftovers!

Mama's Pizza has Daiya Cheese!

When you burn the roof of your mouth, every time you touch it, you tend to think "stupid tea/coffee/panini/etc." I happen to be in a similar situation right now, with a burned palate, but somehow, every time I touch it or it hurts, I think "that pizza was so freaking good."

The pizza in question is a Daiya cheese pizza (with black olives) from Mama's Pizza, located at 715 Saddle Creek Road. The Saddle Creek location is the only one with Daiya, but it is a magnificent experience.

Prior to eating at Mama's, I had only had Daiya in the form of grilled cheese, and I was in love with it. I had heard negative things about the greasy mouthfeel Daiya on pizza, but my curiousity (and hunger) were too strong so I dragged my ever patient mother with me to Mama's to give the pizza a try.

The results? Excellent. My mom and I were raving about the pizza for the rest of the day. My mom eats dairy and she was totally down with the Daiya. The Daiya had a slight crust from being cooked and created a delicate crunch over an amazing layer of gooey cheese. Not only was the Daiya fabulous, but so was everything else. The pizza sauce was the perfect complement to the toppings, with strong overtones of onion and garlic mixed in among the tomato sauce and the crust was thick enough to stand up to the toppings without being so thick that it was all you could taste.

Overall, I'm pretty in love with Mama's Pizza and their Daiya cheese. I am loving the fact that Omaha now has two options for vegan pizza (three, if you include Whole Foods) and both are fantastic. Good show, Omaha.

Herby Fully Loaded

I've sung the praises of Night Flight Pizza before, but after my most recent order, I have to do it again. I usually go with the Woodstock pizza, Teese-y bread or the TLT (not currently listed on the menu, but they usually have it). However, I was browsing the menu online and noticed the pizza called 'Herby'. I immediately called to verify that it could be made vegan and then (spoiler alert!) ordered myself a pie.

Herby comes with Teese cheese, artichokes, fresh tomatoes, and pesto. The best part of this pizza is how the Teese melts and mixes with the pesto, creating a creamy, cheesy sauce with a hefty amount of basil in every bite.

I love you, Night Flight Pizza. Forever. Thank you for delivering me pizza at three in the morning, seven at night and any time at all.

Nebraska Vegans May be Spoiled: Part Two

Some people say that vegetables are a staple of their diets, others say carbs. I say pizza. I have a deep, passionate love for that delectable crust with savory or sweet toppings. People often question how I eat pizza as a vegan, but pizza has only become a better and more creative food the longer I am vegan. From creating my own cheese to trying new and different toppings (next: sauerkraut), vegan pizza is a neverending vat of possibilities and delicious.

However, sometimes a girl doesn't want to go to the trouble of making her own. Sometimes you just want that goodness delivered to you. This is where Night Flight comes in. Night Flight (402-342-4500) makes fantastic pizza from 4pm to 4am, and will deliver out to 120th. As the business is vegan owned and operated, pretty much anything on the non-vegan portion of their menu can be made vegan; they even have Tofutti cream cheese for a topping! Additionally, all vegan items are prepared in their own area and kept in their own freezer. Yes, no cross contamination worries! Yay!

Night Flight also has amazing vegan cookies available. From banana chocolate chip to ginger to double chocolate (the one pictured) to (my favorite) frosted sugar cookie, these are the best cookies in town. I have been known to wait in the dining area for the sugar cookies to be placed in the oven, baked, cooled and frosted. Yes, they are that good. Definitely a wonderful end to a beautiful meal of pizza.

I have loved Night Flight from the first time I enjoyed their pizza. Amazingly, it just got better. One exciting addition is their integration of Teese cheese onto their pizza. For those of you who have (sadly) never had Teese, it is a melty vegan cheese that tastes very, very, very good. Night Flight is taking advantage of this by using Teese not only on their pizza, but also on their new vegan cheese sticks! One of the things I had been missing as a vegan was good cheese sticks, but no more, thanks to Night Flight. I look forward to many late night orders of these bad boys.

Also, there is a whole slew of vegan options on the menu, from an AMAZING tempeh, lettuce and tomato to Boca Burgers, there is a chance that if you want it, Night Flight just may have it. The TLTs they make are intensely delicious and if it was a buffet, I would eat about seven. The vegan crabcakes they have are the fish replacer that I have been searching for since I was in eighth grade. Perfectly reminiscent of good fish, without that nasty garbage smell or having to kill anything. With any luck, I will someday have pictures of these items for you. Hopefully these items will show up on the menu soon, but go ahead and order and savor them. I know I do.

PS- For those of you with gluten issues, Night Flight is also working on developing a vegan, gluten free crust that will also have a separate mixer. Yay!