Sainsbury's Stonebaked Pizza Bases II: Return of the Bases - 13/12/14

A while ago I wrote about these pizza bases from Sainsbury's and how they are the complete tits. Because I liked them so much, I was very quick to use them again, this time in tandem with the cheddar version of the Violife pizza cheese I also wrote about in ^^that^^ post and MOZZARISELLA!!! which is a vegan version of mozzarella cheese. This is the most "real" tasting vegan cheese I have eaten ever ever (and I think I have eaten quite a lot) - it tastes, looks and feels exactly like mozzarella, and it's way better for you as it's completely plant based. Honestly, it's a complete revelation, and it tastes unreal on pizza.

The first pizza we made was pretty much exactly the same as the one in the last post about these bases (sweetcorn and black olives on top, with the additions of the Violife cheddar cheese and the Mozzarisella):

Like last time, it was really tasty and garnishing with basil helped to bring lots of the flavours out. The Mozzarisella really took it up a notch though (I will not stop gushing about this cheese). V good, v tasty.

Pizza rating: 9/10

The other pizza we made, however, was even better. It was a sort of 'spicy meat feast' deal (we had chilli 'beef', fake pepperoni and red chillies on it) and it was so unbelievably dope: 

The spiciness here was what really made it delicious, and in particular the chilli beef was my favourite of all the toppings (vegan chilli beef recipe: put vegan mince in a pan, cook it, fuck a load of hot sauce/liquid smoke/chilli powder/paprika into the pan also, cook it for a bit, put it on the pizza) - it gave such a yummy meaty texture and was overall really tasty. I couldn't really find fault with this pizza: the beef and one red chilli gave the perfect amount of spiciness and I think it might be my favourite home-assembled pizza I have ever had which is cool.

Pizza rating: 9.5/10 (0.5 knocked off because I had to make it myself and also because I had to share it)

I really cannot implore u enough to buy these Sainsbury's pizza bases bc they really take "homemade" pizza to another level. Truly delicious and authentic.

CHEEZLY BLOODY CHEEZLY - more forays into the world of frozen vegan pizza

Holland and Barrett is a pretty essential shop if you are attempting to live that vegan life, because they sell lots of vegan convenience food, and as much as I enjoy being vegan, convenient is often one thing that it is not. One such convenience food is the range of VegiDeli frozen vegan pizzas that they sell (I previously talked about the Cheese and Tomato flavour one here). These pizzas are great because they are topped with vegan cheese (VegiDeli's Mozzarella style Cheezly), and I have been going pretty hard on them lately so I wanted to write about that, because I want to bring my authentic pizza experience 2 u, my loyal readers.

First of all, here is the seasonal 'Festive Pizza' that is currently available in the range:

(sry for shitty picture, me and Ben were sharing/rly hungry so forgot to take a pic of the full thing, but this gives you the right idea) 

The Festive Pizza has on it turkey style chunks, Lincolnshire style veggie sausage, green peppers, sweetcorn and cranberries. It is very very good, and I was especially into the sausage (edit: that's what she said tehe). Unfortunately, like any frozen pizza really, the base is not of great quality, but I would definitely say that the toppings make up for it. If u are in the market for a tasty vegan pizza for like a Christmas buffet or maybe for your second Christmas dinner (lmao u really expect me to celebrate the birth of Jesus with a fucking roast when pizza, his favourite food, exists?) or something then this is your guy. I am considering buying them up so that I can enjoy them in January and prolong the period before my inevitable withdrawal sets in. 

Pizza rating - 8/10

Secondly, here is that Cheese and Tomato flavour pizza again, accompanied by the 'Meatless Feast':

(yep I had two pizzas they are really small get out of my face haters)

Again this is a shit picture, but you get the idea. The Cheese and Tomato pizza is yummy enough - you kind of get what you expect which is not a bad thing. The Meatless Feast is again very tasty - I especially like the pepperoni slices (you can buy those in a packet from VegiDeli's chilled 'meats' range which is also sold at Holland and Barrett but ur reading a vegan pizza blog so you probably already know that) and the ground beef style pieces, but I coulda done without the ham style chunks - the turkey ones on the Festive Pizza are lots superior. Again, the base isn't great but is much improved by a dip (I'd suggest BBQ) and the cheese is Cheezly so you know you can rely on it. 

Pizza rating: 7/10

So yeah these Cheezly pizzas are great when you can't be bothered to make/assemble/order a vegan pizza, and I would especially recommend the Festive one so get your hungry lil mitts on that while u can! Hopefully VegiDeli bring out more limited edition pizzas for me to eat and then tell you about. That would be great.

28/11/14 - Jamie's Pizzeria, Oxford

A cool thing that has happened to me recently (who knew I had a life outside of pizza) is that I now sing in a super dope band called Dot's Funk Odyssey which is made up of people who are at my university and who like (and are really good at) playing funk and soul music. DFO is so great and so full of stupidly talented people that I am not entirely sure how I fooled them all into thinking I am anywhere near good enough to be in it, but it happened and here we are. 

Anyway, enough of the Self Deprecating Humour™ that u have come to ~know and love~ from restinpizza, and onto the actual point of me mentioning the band I'm in (other than for attention and to have people telling me 'omg of course u are good enough to b in DFO hun :-) ur a star xx'). Most weeks before our gigs we eat as a group before we play, and a few weeks ago, PIZZA was our meal of choice. Obviously I was very excited to combine two of my (v professional) interests, and so here is the review of that pizza. 

The night was November 28th, the place was Jamie's Pizzeria (an offshoot of Jamie's Italian which specialises in pizzas, because a man from Essex has not monopolised the Italian restaurant market enough lol) on George Street in Oxford, and the pizza was a special vegan one made just for ya girl over here. As you can see from the picture, they didn't scrimp on the toppings and I was very pleased that when I asked, the ingredients of the dough could be counted on one hand. The crust was thin and crispy, with satisfyingly chewy crusts, the sauce was a pretty standard tomato sauce, and the quality of the veg on top was really good (special shout out to the mushrooms tbh). For a cheeseless pizza, this was very yummy and I think that I would probably go to Jamie's Pizzeria again which is a good sign. Although they were a bit heavy handed with the chillies on my pizza, which was sad. 

After the pizza, we went to play a gig and I truly believe that the pizza made us funkier. Just another of pizza's divine properties, I guess. *looks into the distance, shakes head wistfully*

Pizza rating: 8/10

Jamie's Pizzeria, 24-26 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2AE