Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I was actually planning on blogging about Triple Chocolate Baileys Biscotti today. I had the photos ready to go and everything.

But...then I saw this curious sounding recipe on Pinterest.

By the way, if you haven't checked out Pinterest by now, you really shouldn't.

Seriously.

Don't do it.

It will suck up your time and leave you rubbing your eyes saying, "What do you mean it's 4 o'clock in the morning and I'm still sitting in front of my computer?"

Anyway...back to the biscotti. Or rather, lack of biscotti in this blog. (Don't worry I will get to it next time! Update: click HERE!)

This is about Cauliflower Crust Pizza.

Honestly, I have no words to describe how tasty this is. I made everyone in the family try it WITHOUT TELLING THEM what it was made of -- they LOVED it. They had no idea it was cauliflower.

The person that created this is a super genius.

SUPER.

GENIUS.

Here is where I fond the recipe: Eat. Drink. Smile.

Look how deliciously pizza-y it is...

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

(Slightly adapted from Eat. Drink. Smile.)

Ingredients

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower

1 cup partly skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg, beaten

1 tsp dried oregano

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 tsp garlic salt

pizza sauce (~1/4 cup)

 shredded cheese (~1/3 cup)

 additional toppings of your choice

Note - toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.

I used:

green pepper

mushrooms

green onion

zucchini

Directions

To "rice" the 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). ** I used a cheese grater as I was a little worried about over processing in the food processor. It worked great.

Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes, stirring gently halfway. There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.

One large head should produce approx 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.

To Make the Pizza Crust:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, minced garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9" round. (I did an 8" round and found it worked really well for me - I think 9" might be too thin. But that's going to be a personal preference. Mind you, during cooking my 8" round probably grew to a 9" round on it's own.)

Don't be scared with how it looks now. The transformation is about to begin!

At this point, just before popping in the oven, Beth, from Eat. Drink. Smile recommends brushing with olive oil to help with browning. I simply gave it a light spray with cooking spray and it worked nicely.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.

Look how crust-like it is! Eeeeeeeee! It's so exciting!

Is it sad that this is making me so happy?

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings, and cheese. Place under broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted. Approx 3 - 4 minutes.

Sooooo yummy.

Okay. Three things about this recipe.

1. It is a little tricky to pick up and eat. It doesn't get crunchy like a traditional pizza does. You may have to break out the forks. (I found as soon as it cooled a little bit I could pick it up no problem, it was just a little droopy)

2. It's NOT "pizza" pizza. It's not going to taste like bread. BUT I can almost guarantee that no one will ever guess it is cauliflower. (The kids will never know!) You really do have to try it to believe it.

3. Don't be tempted to double this and make one large pizza with it. The middle will be soggy. (I made the recipe twice to get the 2 beautiful looking pizzas in the photos.) 

I went on the Fitday website and input all of the ingredients in the crust and with my toppings to find out some information on this pizza as compared to a regular cheese pizza with veggies of the same size (8").

Here is what I was able to figure:

Cauliflower Pizza - 502 calories, Cheese Pizza - 855 calories

Cauliflower Pizza - 18 carbs, Cheese Pizza - 109 carbs

Cauliflower Pizza - 42 gr protein, Cheese Pizza - 33 gr protein

Cauliflower Pizza - 31 gr fat, Cheese Pizza - 32 gr fat

For the Cauliflower Crust ON IT'S OWN - it is 380 calories. That's it!

So, basically, you can eat a whole 8" cauliflower pizza for 500 calories!!!

Am I the only one that thinks that is amazing?

And, ummm.... from 109 carbs to ONLY 18! How is that possible?

I am pretty sure I couldn't eat a whole one. I had half of one for dinner with some salad and I am stuffed. It is very rich with all that cheese!

UPDATE:  I made a chicken and spinach pizza and just wanted to share some photos! It looked (and tasted) so yummy!

A little pizza sauce, some chopped onions, chopped tomato, chopped spinach, and some pre-cooked, chopped chicken.

Isn't it pretty?

Yes, I think pizza is pretty.

And - I still can't believe that the entire pizza is only 500 calories. *Boom* Mind blown.

I just want to end with a disclaimer. The nutritional info above was estimated using the Fitday website and should not be taken as gospel.

Like this recipe? Check out our Spicy Valentine Cauliflower Hearts.

Be sure to head over to Carole's Chatter for some fantastic links!