Clean Eating Cauliflower Pizza Crust (and Cauliflower Bread Sticks!)

Makes 4 servings, 1 slice each
When I first saw this recipe HERE I thought, “No way! How could that possibly work?” But it totally did and let me just tell you it is AWESOME. I think this might be the ultimate veggie sneak :) Matt hates cauliflower. He calls it albino broccoli. But he loves pizza so he now loves something primarily involving cauliflower (insert evil cackle… and then remember that Matt reads this blog every day to find out what we’re having for dinner so he now knows that his pizza crust is made of albino broccoli… oops). Whatever, Matt, you know you’ll still eat it anyway.

This is seriously a bread stick made out of cauliflower!!! How cool is that?!

Ingredients:

• ½ a head of cauliflower
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tsp fennel
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp parsley (you can use Italian seasoning or garlic or any spice combination you like instead of these three)

ONE: Wash cauliflower and remove leaves. Grate it until it is the size of rice. I use the shredder blade on my food processor but you could use a hand grater or a chef knife as long as you chop it VERY finely.

I literally took a bag of frozen cauliflower, shoved it into the top of my food
processor fitted with the shredding/grating blade, and turned it on.

TWO: Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe dish and cover. DO NOT ADD WATER because the cauliflower will absorb it all and turn to mush. Microwave on high 4-5 minutes until tender but not mushy.

THREE: Preheat oven to 450. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Scoop out one cup of the cooked cauliflower rice and mix with the egg and mozzarella.

FOUR: Press evenly onto the pan in a pizza dough shape and sprinkle with spices. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes (15-20 minutes if you double the recipe).

TO USE IMMEDIATELY: Spread pizza dough with a little bit of sauce and sprinkle with toppings and some mozzarella cheese. Place under the broiler on high heat and grill just until the cheese is melted.

TO FREEZE: Freeze leftovers or whole plain pizza crusts using the flash freeze method to feed your freezer stash.

TO MAKE BREAD STICKS:
ONE: Double the recipe. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a cookie tray. Take that same piece of parchment paper and line an 8x8 baking dish with it. Don’t cut it. (Or use a single batch and put it in a loaf pan... but it doesn't make as many breadsticks and I PROMISE you you'll want more... immediately)

Single batch in a loaf pan

TWO: Spread the unbaked “dough” into the baking dish, pressing down with a spatula to cover the bottom evenly. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 20-25 minutes until dough is set, just starting to brown around the edges and not wet on top.

THREE: Remove pan from oven and increase temp to 450. Transfer the parchment and set dough to the baking sheet. Cut the dough into strips and separate carefully. Sprinkle with garlic powder and a little parmesan or shredded cheese if desired (I did).

FOUR: Bake another 15 minutes in 450 degree oven until top is slightly browned and bottoms are crispy. Cool on a wire rack.

NUTRITION INFO:

Per serving (1/4 of the recipe) - 121 Calories (62 Calories from Fat), 7g Total Fat, 4g Saturated Fat, 62mg Cholesterol, 188mg Sodium, 5g Carbohydrates, 2g Dietary Fiber, 2g Sugar, 10g Protein, 6% DV Vitamin A, 60% DV Vitamin C, 24% DV Calcium, 5% DV Iron

:)