Lighten Up Your Pizza: Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Whether you’re trying to fit in your skinny pants, have jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon or are just intrigued by the idea of making pizza crust with a cruciferous vegetable, this  is worth a try.  I was skeptical but intrigued and heard good things from several friends who made it.  There are quite a few recipes out there.  Here is what I’ll say about this one: 1. It’s a lot better than it looks.  Taste wise, Courtney and I both really liked it.  2. Saying it serves two is like calling a Lean Cuisine a meal.  The pictures I saw made it look like a normal sized pizza… it’s not.  Make a big salad to go with it and cover your pizza with lots of tasty toppings.  I went with tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, artichokes and sopressata.

Calorie wise, if you use light mozzarella, the crust itself has about half the calories of the wheat pizza I normally make (or of a Trader Joe’s dough), 1/6 of the carbs and more protein.  So really, for bigger appetites you could double the recipe, still eat half and you wouldn’t be doing too much damage.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

From Eat.Drink.Smile

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower*
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• Toppings of choice

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
• *To “Rice” the Cauliflower:
• Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater. Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself. One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.
• In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to a greased baking sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9″ round.
• Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and add sauce, toppings and cheese.  Broil on high high heat just until cheese is melted, approximately 3-4 minutes.
  
  Serves 2 (kind of)
  Nutrition (crust only): 129 calories, 8g carbohydrates, 6g fat, 12g protein, 4g fiber 

Johanna