Cauliflower Crust Pizza – grain free
I am so excited to share this trendy version of a grain-free pizza with everyone. I found the recipe on Facebook, and wanted to fix it at home for, like, ever… except that up until recently my husband was not eating dairy – no cheese, yogurt, cream – for years… was allergic to it I guess; he’d get a headache from even a pinch of Parmesan.
Then, a couple weeks ago, on account of a seemingly unrelated health crisis, we discovered he was diabetic. The drastic weight loss, neuropathy in his feet, and other symptoms… we should have known (hindsight). Now we are working with insulin and counting carbs… Oh! the carbs we count. And his numbers have begun to drop a little, so something is helping.
We have also discovered a way of eating called the ketogenic diet, which encourages comsuming higher amounts of healthy fats and protein, using the fat to slow the absorption of glucose into the blood. The hubster is not the typical type II diabetes profile… he is very thin, on account of his body using his fat reserves (instead of sugars) to produce energy, and he could actually use these fats for skin, eyes, brain, and other organs.
Thus the bliss of enjoying this delicious Cauliflower Crust Pizza for our Friday night supper. It’s easy to make, everything can be prepped in advance, and it’s completely grain-free. I figured about 20g. carbs per serving, and that’s not net carbs either (subtracting the grams of fiber from the total carbs). You don’t have to be counting carbs or even avoiding grain to enjoy this veggie delight. Here’s the recipe:
Cauliflower Crust Pizza
2 cups cooked cauliflower, finely chopped (I used a food processor – do not turn it into mush), see Note, below
2 or 3 eggs, depending on size
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon each dried oregano and basil
a shake of garlic powder
1/2 cup tomato sauce, or to taste
any sort of topping, such as bell pepper, onion, mushroom, olives, pepperoni (we use nitrate-free), etc.
Preheat oven to 450-degrees F. Beat the egg, add the cauliflower, and stir in the cheese and the dried herbs and garlic. The mixture will be thick and only a little soupy.
Press into a greased pan. You will see from the photos that I used my handy “muffin-top” pans, which are very versatile, I’ve used them for all sorts of things besides muffins. This recipe made 12 mini-pizzas. Distribute the tomato sauce evenly over the unbaked “crust”. Next, arrange your favorite toppings on the pizza.
Bake until browned and set and the cheese is bubbly, about 15 minutes or so (it may take longer). This is so delicious, I challenge you to try and not eat all of them. We had 2 leftover, which made a great mid-morning snack.
Note: try and wring some of the water out of the cooked cauliflower (use a towel) before processing or chopping, too much moisture is not your friend.
http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738719078
http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/
