Spicy Black Bean Tex Mex Pizza

Summer is coming, meaning more sun, beach, and barbeques. In anticipation of the bright weather we are about to have, I bring you my vegetarian Tex Mex pizza.

1 pizza crust
1 can black beans (I like to get a can of cuban style black beans)
2 tbs BBQ sauce
1 tbs minced garlic
1/4 cup corn kernels
1/4 a red onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, sliced into strips
1 jalapeno
12 ounces Mexican Cheese blend

To start, its important to let your pizza crust sit in the counter and rise. Once it has had time to rise a bit, place cornmeal on your pizza stone and work your crust into a circular shape. Place the crust on the stone, ready to add the toppings. Our base for this pizza is the black bean mixture. First, pour the beans out of the can into a bowl and crush them.

Next, add the BBQ sauce and the minced garlic.

Mix the ingredients together and set aside. Next, place the corn in a bowl.

Cut up the onion and tomatoes (I had heirlooms which I used for their awesome yellow color) and place them over the corn in the bowl.

For the jalapeno, dice it up WITH THE SEEDS. For this pizza, you want the heat. That's what gives the pizza its heat. If you are worried about it being too hot, its not. The heat is spread out between so many layers of flavor there isn't an overwhelmingly hot bite.

Add the jalapenos on top of the other vegetables, and mix the 4 ingredients all together.

Now its time to start building the pizza. Add the black bean base and cover the entire pizza crust with it.

Next, add about 3/4 of the cheese. I got a Pepper Jack, Colby, Munster blend that worked perfectly for this pizza.

Put the vegetable mixture on top of  the pizza, spreading each component around. Add the remaining cheese.

Bake at 425 degrees for 13 minutes. Make sure the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

For the BBQ I went to that night, I put the pizza into little square pieces for everyone to manage. Hopefully this pizza is a hit at your next BBQ. Enjoy :)