Rainbow Vegan Hummus Pizza

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I have a little secret about kids that I want to share with you today. Kids have BIG imaginations. Okay, okay, maybe that’s not really a secret. Let me rephrase that by sharing this tip: those BIG imaginations can secretly be used as a tool to get kids to eat more vegetables. Don’t believe me? Make this rainbow vegan hummus pizza using the tips below and let me know your success in the comments.

Remember watching The Wizard of Oz as a child? Do you remember Dorothy’s facial expression when her world transformed from a dreary black and white existence to a world filled with the colors of the rainbow? Children often exhibit that same expression. I use the word awe to describe this expression.

For kids, seeing an ant hill is exciting enough to make them express awe. Children have imaginations that are special, because they have this ability to feel a sense of awe over something so simple. Even during one of the most simplistic, mundane tasks of daily life, like making dinner (with a little help from their guardians, of course) children will be excited enough to express this feeling.

Make this yummy rainbow vegan hummus pizza with them using the tips below and you will see that expression of awe on their little faces when they are eating their veggies.

Let the adventure begin…

Five Tips for Creating a Rainbow Vegan Hummus Pizza Adventure with Your Kids:

1. Exploration: allow them to pick the vegetables in the grocery store – seriously, let them explore the vegetable aisle in search of vegetables that represent the colors of the rainbow. I bet they find a ton of vegetables they have never even heard of before this experience. I bet you find some you were unaware of, too.
2. Preparation: let the kids be your little helpers in the kitchen – they can help with the measuring, pouring, mixing, kneading, whisking and even the chopping of the vegetables, depending on their age (use your discretion).
3. Assembly: have them help with the assembly of the pizza – they can stretch the dough into the pan, brush on the garlic butter and spread the hummus onto the dough.
4. Creation: let them make the vegetables into a rainbow – they will love creating a rainbow with the vegetables they find at the store.
5. Activity: do a rainbow activity – if you are making this rainbow vegan hummus pizza and really want to get the kids into it, search the internet for a rainbow activity to do with them (I will share my favorite one below).

Exploration

Imagine the automatic doors of Trader Joe’s slowly opening, a world of colorful vegetables resting before your child’s eyes. Have them enter with the intent to explore…

Give them the six colors of the rainbow and send them on a mission to find red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple vegetables so they can create this rainbow vegan hummus pizza for dinner.

For younger children, cut out one inch colored strips of construction paper in the colors of the rainbow, so they have them to reference at the store (these strips can also be used for the activity below).

In our exploration of the vegetable aisle at Trader Joe’s, we found red and orange peppers and a bag of colorful cauliflower…

What will you find on YOUR adventure?

Preparation

The first step for making this pizza is to make the dough. Click here to find my healthy vegan pizza dough recipe.

First, have your child measure the following ingredients: applesauce, apple cider vinegar, water, flour, salt, and baking powder. Then, they can combine all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix them with a spatula until a fluffy, sticky dough is formed.

I always say the dough feels exactly the way I imagine a cloud would feel, if I could touch one. I guess the dough is the cloud to our rainbow of vegetables. See, even adults can have BIG imaginations!

After the cloud is formed, they can use their hands to knead the dough for about one minute.

Then, have them roll it into a ball, place it into a bowl and cover it with a towel for about ten minutes (about as long as it takes to prepare the rest of the ingredients).

Next, we need to prepare those colorful vegetables…

I always suggest chopping the vegetables as small as possible. When they are chopped smaller they get mixed into the yummy hummus and are not as difficult to chew, making them more appealing to kids. Another suggestion is to steam the vegetables, making them softer and easier to eat.

The kids can help separate the vegetables into colorful rows, as seen in the picture above, after they have been steamed and chopped…

Now, let’s get chopping…

As I stated earlier, use your discretion when having kids help with this step. If your young ones truly want to help with this step, please consider purchasing a knife like this one to ensure they are able to safely learn how to chop vegetables.

The final step for prepping the pizza is to have your child whisk the melted butter, salt, garlic and parsley until a garlic butter is formed.

Assembly

Now, the kids can start to assemble the pizza. Have them stretch the dough out until it covers the bottom of a greased baking pan (have them use flour on their hands to prevent the dough from sticking to them).

Then, have the kids use a brush or spatula to spread the garlic butter onto the dough.

Lastly, have them spread the hummus onto the buttered dough, again using a spatula.

Creation

Every kids favorite part is making the rainbow…

Let them get creative with this step. They can make rows, make circles or simply sprinkle the colorful vegetables all over the dough without any design in mind. This is their pizza! Let them get creative.

Activity for Rainbow Vegan Hummus Pizza

Now that the kids have explored, prepared, assembled and created, have them do a fun rainbow activity while the pizza is in the oven. You can do a quick search online to find a rainbow themed activity, or you can do what we did and make this simple rainbow out of construction paper. Click here for the link.

I like this one because it is simple and fun, the supplies needed to do it are typically things you will already have on hand, it can be done in the short amount of time it takes for this pizza to heat up in the oven and you can use the strips of colored paper that you brought to the grocery store with you to do this activity. For all of the above reasons, this is my favorite rainbow activity.

Lastly, I find this activity to be as timeless as watching The Wizard of Oz (here is a link to purchase the film on Amazon, if you are inspired to watch it with them the night you make this pizza), No matter what age your child is, this activity is fun. Just like the creation of this pizza, the kids can use imagination to create a rainbow of their own. The rainbow can be kept as a souvenir of their entire experience making this rainbow vegan hummus pizza.

Now, back to that feeling of awe…

Think back to watching The Wizard of Oz as a child. What did Dorothy want most? She wanted to go home. She wanted to go home to her dreary black and white existence. The colorful world of Oz did not hold up to what she had at her home in Kansas: her family.

Children don’t need extraordinary experiences like traveling to exotic locations or dining at an extravagant restaurant when their loved ones can turn a simple trip to a grocery store into an adventure of a lifetime. When we do things like this with our children, they remember. They remember the joy of the experience that they had with you that day. That joy becomes connected to the food that they ate that day.

The souvenir of the physical rainbow they made isn’t the only souvenir they will have from this experience. The joy they experience every time they eat a rainbow vegan hummus pizza will be a souvenir of the joy they experienced with you that day. And that, my friends, is how you get kids to love eating their vegetables…

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