I Heart Cauliflower!!

I feel like I've just been given one of the greatest cheat codes in the game of life. I guess it's not up on the same level as you know, knowing who I am, where I came from, and where I'm going, but for a girl like me who (really) loves carbs and has been cursed blessed with a body that doesn't... It's pretty darn close.

The secret is Cauliflower. I guess you can make some pretty great mashed faux-tatoes with it, as well as use it (somehow) for a fake lasagna, or easily imitate rice. Tonight I made cauliflower crust pizza, and I know there is someone out there who loves me and cares about me and I believe he created this magnificent vegetable just to show that. Can I just say, it was awesome?!? (I guess I could, but I usually like to ramble on a bit, so I won't leave it at that.)

I admit, I was a little (lot) skeptical before I started. I LOVE pizza, and some kooky knock off by a veggie loving, low carb eating, wannabe cook I truthfully conceded probably would not do it for me. However, I'm trying to become a veggie loving, lower carb eating cook, so I figured, even if it wasn't super great, but I could imagine I was eating pizza, it would still be worth it.

My efforts were rewarded. It tasted abso-flipping-lutely amazing. My entire family loved it, and it was fun to see how much cauliflower my 5 year old was putting down. It tasted really bready, and definitely carby, but it wasn't. Normally when I try healthier versions of recipes, I walk away feeling like I "kind of" had what I was craving, but still crave it and want the real thing. After this I felt like I had just had real pizza, and felt a little guilty knowing that somehow I'd probably just gone over my carb limit for the month. It was great. Another bonus, it's really filling. I made 1 cookie sheet of pizza (by quadrupling the recipe I'll post below) and normally our family could probably eat 2 pizza sheets. By the time it was half gone, we were all so stuffed, wanting to eat more, but unable. (So now we have left overs!)

Anyway, because I love you all, I'm going to share the recipe. (Or you can just google cauliflower pizza crust, but to save you the time, here it is. 1 caveat - it is not low fat.)

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower*
1 egg
1 cup mozzarella cheese

(I added some Garlic powder, some Oregano, (just sprinkled in enough for it to smell good) salt, (just enough for the plain cauliflower to taste kind of yummy) and Parmesan cheese (maybe between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup for the 4X recipe?))

**pizza or alfredo sauce

(On half I used Hunt's all natural garlic, basil, and oregano sauce, pretty low carb, and decent pizza sauce flavor without having to add anything. For the other half, I mixed some cream cheese, some heavy whipping cream, and some pesto sauce. It was good.)

toppings (make sure meats are cooked)
mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. (Very important. We didn't grease for the bread sticks that I tried to make. Yeah. Don't forget to spray.)

In a medium bowl, combine (seasoned) cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Press evenly on the pan.

Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes (15-20 minutes if you double the recipe).

Remove the pan from the oven. To the crust, add sauce, then toppings and cheese.

Place under a broiler (grill for the Europeans) at high heat just until cheese is melted **.

Nutritional Information for the entire crust:
calories: 434, fat: 25 g, carbohydrates: 8 (net), 13 if counting all, fiber: 5 g, protein: 41 g.

Final tip, expect it to taste pretty bad and weird, then when you taste it, you'll be like, "Nuh-UH! This is NOT cauliflower!" Let me know if you try it and what you thought!

Coming up this week (hopefully) funeral cheesy faux-tatoes!