This ain’t no “New Year, New Me” post. Yeah I got a FitBit for Christmas, and I like to at least try and eat healthy to balance out the restaurant dining and binge drinking. But honestly, I just love pizza so much and eat it so often that I honestly can’t discriminate against any kind of pizza. Including a low-carb alternative made sans bread.
So the other day I picked up some cauliflower rice from Trader Joe’s after reading that it is one of their most popular products that I never heard of (both fresh and frozen!). It’s basically just cauliflower that has already gone through the food processor for you so you don’t have to deal with the hassle… such a time saver. With all these recipes floating around with cauliflower subs, I was curious, so I got it and made some “fried rice” one night last week. It wasn’t bad, but I was left with so much leftover cauliflower, I needed more options than just frying it up with vegetables.
With the internet being the amazing place it is, all I did was Google a couple cauliflower pizza crust recipes, and realized I already had about 90% of the ingredients I needed to make it. The rest I could improvise.
[Recipe is a combo of this one from PopSugar, and this one from Damn Delicious… and a little improvisation by moi]
Easy Cauliflower Crust Pesto Pizza
Ingredients:
- Nonstick spray
- 2 cups cauliflower rice (from Trader Joe’s)
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup pesto
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Fresh chives, optional
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425ºF, line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place cauliflower rice in microwave safe bowl, microwave 5 minutes or until soft. Let cool.
- Mix into rice beaten egg, one cup mozzarella, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Once combined, pat into a 10-inch round on the parchment. Make sure to press middle down firmly because that will take the longest to cook through.
- Spray lightly with nonstick spray and bake 12-15 minutes, or until golden.
- Top pizza with pesto sauce (or whatever pizza sauce you’d like, at the time this was all that was in my fridge!), 1/4 cup mozzarella, red pepper flakes (and any other desired toppings). Bake in the oven until melted and bubbly, another 10-12 minutes. Top with chives before serving.
I’m telling you, this could not be any easier. Guilt-free, no flour, no dough, no hassle. And it comes out tasting pretty damn good.
kcincleveland 