Happy New Year Black Bean and Mint Pizza

New Year’s Eve is one of the few American holidays I can really get into. It’s partly the clean slate idea that appeals to me. Which is strange because all my years as a student, then as a teacher, and then as a student again make September the true beginning of my year. It’s a new academic year that gives me a chance to do most everything differently if not better. Still, turning the page to 2012 puts me in the mood for making resolutions, hanging out with friends, and wearing at least one item that glows or flashes.

I thought I might feel sad missing the First Night celebration in town, but I was glad to make pizzas and hang out with friends in the comfort of our own home. We did end up eating about as late as if we’d gone out since making three different kinds of pizzas with different timings in an oven that hold only two at a time turns out to take a long time–about two hours longer than we thought, somehow. But we entertained ourselves all the way until midnight, part of the time with me spinning my new LED lit hoop prototype Wayne made. (Sorry hooper friends–we don’t have these for sale yet–coming soon!)

The festive bean pizza was completely Wayne’s inspiration. He remembered enjoying black bean and mint slices at a pizza shop where he used to live and for our little New Year’s dinner party, he developed a recipe. (He also came up with a perfect shrimp scampi pizza which I exclude because this is supposed to be a vegetarian blog. Sorry shrimp eaters!)

• 1 ball of dough
• medium red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 can black beans, rinsed well
• handful or so shredded pizza cheese
• 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
• a few ounces feta cheese crumbles
• a bunch of fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 avocado, sliced

1. Stretch the dough onto your pizza pan.
2. Lightly coat the crust edges with olive oil to keep them from burning or getting too hard, especially if it’s whole wheat pizza dough
3. Saute onions and garlic and add the beans to the pan
4. Sprinkle some pizza cheese evenly across the crust bottom.
5. Spread the bean, onion, and garlic mixture next.
6. Distribute sliced tomatoes and feta crumbles as you like.
7. You will need to cook for longer than you normally would to crisp the crust underneath all those beans. Two minutes before it’s done, add the mint.
8. When the pizza comes out, add the avocado slices and then slice and serve!