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Who doesn't love pizza? I love pizza; it's a fun satisfying comfort food. But, since going vegan, I find it hard to find a good plant-based pizza to satisfy my cravings. This leaves me no choice but to constantly experiment with delicious ingredients to try and come up with new pizza creations.

This green goddess pizza is my new favorite creation. It starts off with a simple pizza dough base, which you can make yourself, but I prefer to pick one up from the market. However, make sure to shop around and try different pizza doughs, because they're not all created equally. I've finally found one that is a dream to work with and stretches so easily.

Once the dough is stretched out it's topped with a basil pesto sauce (again, store bought). It's a nice change from a traditional tomato sauce and adds so much flavor to the pizza. To keep with the green goddess theme, the pizza is then topped with a layer of baby spinach and sauteed zucchini.

Because cheese adds a salty dimension, I needed something to fill the gap: black Moroccan olives. They're small black olives, cured in salt, and preserved in oil. They have a wrinkled appearance with a big salty complex flavor. The perfect way to season this pizza.

Green Goddess Pizza

Serves 4

1 pound store bought pizza dough, at room temperature

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 zucchini, cut into long strips with a vegetable peeler

Salt

Pepper

5 tablespoons (dairy-free) basil pesto

1/2 cup packed baby spinach

10 black Moroccan olives, pitted

1 tablespoon sunflower or pumpkin seeds

1. Preheat oven to 500 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add olive oil, zucchini strips and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the edges of the zucchini turn bright green and they begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.

3. On a lightly floured surface, press and stretch pizza dough into a rough 12-by-17-inch rectangle; transfer to prepared pan.

4. Evenly spread with basil pesto; top with baby spinach, sauteed zucchini, black olives and seeds. Bake until crust is golden, about 15 minutes.

Tasty tips

--Slicing the zucchini using a vegetable peeler transforms the zucchini into very thin strips. This will help them cook quickly and stick to the pizza as you eat it.

--If you're having a hard time stretching out the pizza dough, keep flipping it over; you must stretch both sides. If you only stretch one side of the dough, it will keep shrinking back.

--Grilled asparagus is a great substitute for zucchini.

--Sunflower seeds may sound like a strange pizza topping, but they add a nice tasty texture. Trust me!

--Scissors are my favorite way to slice up a pizza.

(Kary Osmond is a Canadian recipe developer and former television host of the popular daytime cooking show "Best Recipes Ever." Her easy recipes include helpful tips to guide you along the way, and her love of plant-based cooking offers healthy alternatives to some of your favorite dishes. Learn more at www.karyosmond.com.)