A Veggie State of Mind: Homemade Veggie Pizza

It's a beautiful day, I'm off from work, the Red Sox beat the Yankees last night and all is right in the world.  It always surprises me that no matter how long I'm away from my Small Boston Kitchen, be it a couple days or even just a couple of hours, I can't wait to get back to it and create new and exciting recipes.  It seems that whenever I have a bonus day off from work (AKA use a vacation day) I get so excited about cooking projects that I have a hard time deciding what to make.  Today it seems that as soon as I got back to Boston my gut was screaming "veggie pizza!" and since I always trust my gut, I went with it.

Veggie pizza is awesome.  It makes me feel good about eating a bunch of veggies but it still has all the fun of eating pizza.  It's perfect when you're in a "salad frame of mind" but don't necessarily want salad.  I even went a step further and used a whole wheat store bought (I cheated) dough  for some extra flavor and all the additional health benefits.  Since pizza and beer are such a natural pairing, I'm serving up my 'za with a cold one.  Today, I'm opting for a frosty Leinenkugel, Sunset Wheat.  My cousin turned me on to these and I find them quite refreshing. Pizza and beer, (insert a refreshing Ahhhhhh sound here) what could be better?

Veggie Pizza
- 1 store bought whole wheat bag of pizza dough
- Flour to roll out the dough
- Assorted veggies (I used mushroom, roasted red peppers, caramelized shallots, spinach and tomatoes)
- Feta cheese (enough to lightly sprinkle on the pizza)
- Mozzarella cheese (enough to lightly sprinkle over the pizza)
- Fresh ground pepper (I didn't use additional salt because the feta provides it naturally)
- A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh, torn basil
- Cornmeal for dusting the pizza stone

Preheat the pizza stone at 425.  On a flat, floured surface (I like to use my cutting board), roll out the dough with a rolling pin until the dough is evenly flat.  It helps to give the pizza a good shake before you start topping it, just to make sure it will slide off the cutting board and onto the stone.  Top the dough with veggies and then cheese.  Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the top of the pizza.  Grind fresh black pepper on top.  Sprinkle cornmeal on top of the hot pizza stone.  Gently, using a shaking motion, slide the pizza onto the stone.  Bake the pizza until the cheese melts and the crust starts to brown.  Once the pizza is done, allow it to cool before you cut into it, allow any excess water from the vegetables to settle.  Top with fresh basil and serve with an ice cold beer.  Preferably while watching a Red Sox game.