Sunday, February 24, 2013

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Since I did my Whole30 Paleo Challenge in January, I have a new-found love and respect for the often-neglected cauliflower…  aside from enjoying it raw in salads, and also roasted, I have made cauliflower ‘rice’ several times… and more recently, used it to make pizza crust.

I have looked at many recipes for cauliflower pizza crust lately but they all call for mozzarella cheese, and since I am not eating dairy right now, I have not been even tempted… then I came across this very timely recipe at Running to the Kitchen.

Gina’s version uses no cheese, but does make use of nutritional yeast.. and I just happened to have purchased some but have been hesitant to try it.  I made up this crust and was pleasantly surprised at the great taste.  For some wonderful mouth-watering pictures of the pizza Gina put together, and the recipe and instructions check out her post.

The first time I made it I followed the ingredient list and directions pretty much as written and calculated the N.I. as follows:

Per 1/4 of the pizza crust.
Weight Watchers P+ = 4.
Calories 140; Protein 6g; Carbohydrate 8g; Fat 12g; Fibre 4g.

To make the topping, I slathered a few tablespoons of tomato sauce over the crust and then sprinkled it with some basil and oregano. Then I mounded some leftover roasted veggies and 4 of my Spicy Meatballs, cut into chunks, on top. It was very very good.

Feb 13 cauliflower pizza crust 001
Ready to bake for half hour in a hot oven.

Feb 13 cauliflower pizza crust 002
Baked and ready to top… the parchment paper turned brown too.
Feb 13 cauliflower pizza crust 003
I added tomato sauce, herbs, leftover roasted veggies and chopped meatballs and then baked for a few more minutes.
Feb 13 cauliflower pizza crust 004
Then cut to serve.
Feb 13 cauliflower pizza crust 006
This is a knife and fork pizza… would never hold together to pick up and eat with your fingers….  but it is so tasty!

The second time I made it, I did a bit of experimenting… I used half of the olive oil that the recipe calls for, keeping my Weight Watchers buddies in mind.  Yes, we do love our healthy oils, but in a limited amount… and I baked the crust at about 390°F hoping it might brown just a bit less and I was right.

Feb 17 1
With tomato sauce, basil and oregano.
Feb 17 2
Add some roasted veggies, cooked ground beef and a few grape tomatoes and heat through.
Feb 17 3
Mmmmm… enjoy!
The N.I. for this version with less oil is as follows:

Per 1/4 of the crust.
Weight Watchers P+ = 3.
Calories 110; Protein 6g; Carbohydrate 8g; Fat 8g; Fibre 4g.

And the third time... I was out of nutritional yeast so left it out. The crust was a bit crumblier but still worked, so if you don't have any nutritional yeast on hand, don't let that deter you from trying this recipe.  I also used 1 Tbs of coconut oil to cook my cauliflower and it worked just fine too, so it's your choice... coconut or olive oil.

Feb 23 more cauliflower pizza pics 002
With a topping of cooked ground beef and veggies, and fresh tomatoes.


Feb 23 more cauliflower pizza pics 003
Smaller pieces are easier to handle!




Are you a pizza fan? 

Have you tried a cauliflower crust?

3 comments:

  1. This looks great!!

    Did it taste different without the nutritional yeast? I know I add it to vegan recipes for a more cheesy flavor.

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    Replies
    1. I really didn't notice a taste difference, just a bit of a texture difference.

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  2. I loved my cauliflower crust recipe that I found too...very different than I would've imagined and I would probably make it once a week :-) and yea I'm Italian so ya know I love PIZZA! Ha!!

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