Come on, who doesn't love pizza!! However sadly its usually not considered a healthy choice and after eating an entire pizza (which I can do with ease and still be slightly hungry afterwards) there is always a small touch of guilt that follows. But I have good news!! I have found a cure for any and all pizza guilt! Three words...cauliflower pizza crust! It is amazing, tastes amazing, looks and feels just like regular pizza dough and allows you to create a pizza that is made almost entirely of veggies!! Are you stoked, you should be!:) (This recipe was adapted from the website The Detoxinista)
Crust Ingredients!
- 4 cups of raw cauliflower (this is about one large cauliflower, maybe a little more so buy two to be safe).
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/3 cup goat cheese (I used slightly less and it still turned out really good)
- Oregano (this can be fresh or dried, we used fresh and it turned out amazing)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions!
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees!
- Pulse small batches of cauliflower in a food processor (or a Blendtec!) until the cauliflower has a rice like texture (at first I put too much cauliflower in at once and it made it tricky, so do maybe 1/4 of the cauliflower head at a time and then dump it into a bowl).
- Bring about an inch of water to bowl in a large pan, once its boiling add the 4 cups of cauliflower, reduce heat, cover and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.
- Strain the cauliflower in a fine mesh strainer (getting as much water out as possible and then transfer it to a dish towel. Wrap it up in the dish towel and squeeze out as much of the water as you possibly can (this is the secret trick to making the dough stay together like regular pizza crust).
- Add the strained and squeezed cauliflower to a bowl, add the egg, goat cheese, oregano, salt & pepper and mix it all together with your hands! This dough will feel different than most doughs you've used but trust me its delicious!
- Spread the dough out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (don't forget to use this so it wont stick) We made ours into a circle about 1/3 of an inch thick and slightly raised at the edges to get the "crust" type feel.
- Throw it in the oven and cook for 35-40 minutes until the edges are golden brown!
Toppings!
This is the fun part because you can get all crazy and creative! Personally I'm not a sauce on my pizza kind of gal. Instead I like to drizzle on some truffle oil (the smell of it alone makes your mouth water), fresh sliced tomatoes, prosciutto, and lightly sautéed mushrooms. I pause here and cook those toppings for about 10 minutes to get them toasty warm, (if your pizza has cheese on top cook it till the cheese is melty:) Then to finish it off add arugula and a little drizzle of balsamic glaze and its ready to eat! YUM! Feel free to add anything you love; marinara, sausage, pepperoni, heck make a Hawaiian pizza! Olivia and I doubled the recipe and each had a personal pizza, which we devoured quickly and completely free of guilt! :) Enjoy!!