Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I love pizza.  A good thick bready crust, nice sauce, loads of cheese.  Its like a slice of heaven.  And a slice that I thought was out of reach right now until I found some really good cauliflower crust pizza recipes.

I love this calzone recipe from The Iron You.  Its delicious and Mike has great tips for making the crust perfect.  He also has a cauliflower bread sticks recipe that I want to try sometime.

See look at that - right from the oven ...

Here are the calzones baking:

The recipe I got from Innovative Aesthetics is good too.  There isn't a serving size on this recipe so I am guessing it serves 1-2 (although you may have trouble eating it all.)  This is the one I am sharing with you today.  That way you have a couple of options if you want to try them both out. I tend to blend the recipes together a little bit (some of the spices from one, cooking times from the other) so it never comes out the same way twice.  But its always delish, and filling and really does satisfy my pizza urge while getting in my vegetables.

Couple of things to remember:  (1) Do not use any restricted IP products on the day you eat this.  (2) Only have it once per week (because of the soy cheese).  (3)  If you make calzones only broil for like a minute to get the cheese all melt-y.  And if you make pizza, watch the broiling close (yes I over broiled it once.  It still tasted OK but was a little off putting to look at :) )

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

CRUST:

1/2 LARGE head cauliflower (or 2+ cups shredded cauliflower)
1 large egg
1 cup finely shredded GO Veggie mozzarella shreds (Play with it - I have also mixed the mozz and cheddar shreds and also used a little of the new Go Veggie Pepper Jack with the mozz and cheddar)

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or fresh garlic)
1/2 teaspoon onion salt

1. Shred/grate the cauliflower into small crumbles. You can use the food processor if you'd like, but you just want crumbles, not puree. You'll need a total of about 2 cups or so of cauliflower crumbles (which is about half a large head of cauliflower). Place the cauliflower crumbles in a large bowl and microwave them (dry) for 8 minutes. Give the cauliflower a chance to cool. Put the cauliflower in a tea towel and squeeze the water out of it,

2. Prepare the crust: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray (or use a nonstick surface). In a medium bowl, mix the cauliflower crumbles (about 1 1/2 cups since they shrink after cooking) with the remaining crust ingredients. Pat the "crust"
into a 9 to 12-inch round on the prepared pan. Spray the crust lightly with  nonstick spray and bake for 15 minutes (or until golden). Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat up to broil.

3. Prepare the pizza: Spread the sauce on top of the baked crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge. I use WF Tomato Basil and WF Alfredo mixed in equal portions.  Use about 2 T of each, depending on how big you spread your crust out.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese on top. Add any other toppings you might like. Broil the pizza 2-3 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.


Enjoy