The Organic Pizza Company. Who/What is that? It’s a great take and bake pizza company and if you’re near a Denver metro location, pick up a pie for dinner.

Our private tasting event at the OPC’s new location in The Spire building started with a pizza making demo. It is all done by scratch- dough and all, and there aren’t any crazy funky ingredients either. The Organic Pizza Company makes pies like you would at home and they source organic ingredients.

We headed to a private dining area and were greeted with lots of good wines.

Then the pizzas started coming…

I ate a few pieces and got caught up in conversation. I soon realized that all of those wines were not some random wines for us to taste. The Organic Pizza Company partners with local liquor stores to provide pizza buyers with wine pairing suggestions for each pizza. I love this idea! You can plan an affordable pairing base on some great suggestions from wine enthusiasts.

I think the wine pairing idea is so good it’s copy-worthy. Really. Copy-worthy. Consumers often like a little help with this part of dinner, so I like that The Organic Pizza Company has thought this out.

They offer a gluten free pizza with Udi’s gluten free crust. I had a slice and it was really good. You can order any one of their pies gluten free.

At first, I payed a lot of attention as each pie was presented.

And then I got so caught up in conversation I found myself snapping photos way after people had served themselves.

In the end- I not only had a great time meeting people, drinking wine, and eating great pizzas… I got to take one home with me to bake on my pizza stone.

I ordered the Norwegian pie that comes topped with smoked salmon. It baked up nicely and my hungry man, who had not been eating pizzas with me all night, was happy I came home with dinner. The pizza baked well according to their baking instructions, and to me, that’s the most important part. It’s good to know that the pie actually bakes at home the way it is supposed to.

There are currently two Organic Pizza Company locations-

Denver Highlands- 4500 W 38th Ave 303-561-1111

and downtown Denver- 891 14th St 303-534-2223

They also deliver within 2 miles of their locations.

For this month’s Taste & Create I was paired with Corina from Searching for Spice, a blog I had never heard of. It’s always fun to discover a new food blog through Taste & Create, and then search through the recipe archives to decide what to re-create. Making a decision was easy for me- I love dates and coconut and had never made coconut covered dates before, though I had considered it many times. Now that I’ve made them and see how easy they are, I can guarantee dates will be stocked in my kitchen from now on.

Here’s a link to the original recipe, and here’s what I did-

I coarsely chopped 8 large Medjool dates (my favorite kind of date) and put them in a small sauce pan with 1 TB unsalted butter. Keep an eye on this and mix it every now and then to make sure the dates start to “melt” evenly. You’ll see the texture change and it really does seem like the dates are melting at first. Add a little cardamom- I opened 2 cardamom pods in my mortar and pestle and then crushed the seeds from the pods, added them to my heated mixture, and stirred for another few minutes.

Remove the dates from the heat when they look like a sticky dough. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes so you can handle it with your fingers.

While the dates cooled, I dry toasted some cashews on medium heat for a few minutes on the stove. The original recipe calls for almonds, but I substituted with cashews this time since I had them in the kitchen.

When the date mush cools, take approximately 1TB in your hand, flatten it into a pancake, put a cashew inside, and roll the date mixture around the nut, forming a ball. Roll the date ball in unsweetened, dehydrated coconut, and try to finish rolling them all before you start to eat them. They are really delicious, very easy to make, and somewhat “healthy” if you think about the ingredients. I plan to make many different versions of coconut dates, so I’m glad I found Searching for Spice and the inspiration to make them for the first time!

This might be my new favorite dessert, and with a Vita-Mix, it takes seconds to make… and even less time to scarf down and enjoy!  

I didn’t have a plan for dessert, but had 1 cup cooked brown basmati rice left over from dinner, some homemade peanut butter from dry roasted Valencia peanuts, and Mayan Cocoa powder from Savory Spice Shop.  Turns out those ingredients blend into a fantastic vegan pudding.

Here’s what I did-

I made 1 cup of rice milk with the leftover rice (which was cooked in water with no added herbs, etc.).  Then, into the Vita-Mix went 1 cup homemade peanut butter, 2 very ripe bananas, 1/2 cup Mayan Cocoa, and 1/4 cup maple syrup.

Blend this on high for just a few seconds, pour into smaller dishes, and chill to allow it to set a little like a pudding.  I sprinkled some Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar on top (which, of course, you’ll find at Savory Spice Shop), and added a few pretzels for crunch.  Otherwise, it would be gluten-free.  I ate so much of this…

The chile peppers, cinnamon, and vanilla in the Mayan Cocoa go really well with peanuts, and the vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, mace, and cardamom in the Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar pulled the whole thing together.  Looks like I’ll have to keep Mayan Cocoa on stock from now on.