ZagLeft

My baby girl’s birthday was yesterday.  I know she’d kill me if I called her that…she’s 11.

She’s our last so she’ll always be my baby.  We had such a great day yesterday.  I checked her out of school early.  We had lunch together, got her hair done and did a little shopping. Oh yes, she also had an orthodontist appointment, so technically we didn’t just play hooky from school.

Our family tradition is this…on your birthday, you get to pick what’s for dinner and what type of cake you like.  Colleen chose the Cauliflower Crust Pizza I made last week for dinner as her birthday meal.  I was looking over the wonderful recipes on Recipe Girl’s site and came across the recipe for this.  It was amazing!

At first, I didn’t tell my kids they were eating cauliflower pizza crust.  I just watched and waited.  They devoured the pizza(s).  They know now what’s in the crust and it doesn’t matter.  The kids got to put their own toppings on and they chose cheese and pepperoni.

EJ and I decided on spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese for our toppings.

The crust is surprisingly simple to make.

First, you use a cheese grater to “grate” your cauliflower into small pieces.

Microwave the bowl of cauliflower for 8 minutes to soften the cauliflower.  Let it cool for a couple of minutes.

In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of the cauliflower crumbles with egg, cheese and spices.

Shape it into a 9 to 12 inch round.

Bake the crust.  Top with sauce and toppings.  Put the pizza back in the oven for a quick broil to melt the cheese .

The pizza tastes amazing! It’s got different texture than regular pizza crust but you’d never know it was cauliflower  It’s really, really good. I also like it because I don’t have any guilt associated with eating several slices of pizza.  You have to give it a try and let me know what you think.

I was able to make 2 pizzas out of one large head of cauliflower.

INGREDIENTS (Slightly Adapted From Recipe Girl )

CRUST

For One 9 to 12-inch pizza

1/2 Large head cauliflower (or 2 + cups shredded cauliflower)

1 large egg

1 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano (or fresh)

1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or fresh garlic)

1/2 teaspoon onion salt

TOPPINGS

1/2 cup tomato-basil marinara sauce (or pizza sauce)

1/2 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup chopped spinach

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained

1/2 cup crumbled feta

DIRECTIONS

1.  Using a cheese grater, shred the cauliflower into small crumbles.  You can use the food processor if you’d like, but you just want crumbles, not puree so “pulse it a few times”.  You’ll need a total of about 2 cups or so of cauliflower crumbles for each pizza (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.

2.  PREPARE THE CRUST:  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray.  In a medium bowl, mix the cauliflower crumbles 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.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese on top.  Add  spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and feta around the pizza.   Broil the pizza 3 to 4 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted.  Cut into slices and serve.

**Side note:  If you’d like a different type of pizza, just choose the toppings you like.