Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Many people who adhere to a healthy eating diet, believe in using cheat meals to keep themselves on the straight and narrow - they find it helps to have something to look forward to. This may work for some people, but I myself enjoy my meals so much that I never feel the need to 'cheat'. There are so many great healthy recipes out there that when you get a pizza/brownie/ice cream craving, there is no excuse to succumb as there are methods of making healthy & clean versions of all these things. You just need to be a bit creative and do some research! 

I want to share with you one of my favourite clean recipes that I have tried so far, the cauliflower crust pizza. At first, I was very reluctant and sceptical to try it, as I really am not a fan of cauliflower and didn't see how it could possibly taste nice in a pizza crust. But one day I realised I had all the ingredients to hand so I thought I'd give it a go. The recipe I used for the crust came from Lauren Conrad's blog, and I decided to top mine with tuna. I can't say it tastes like normal pizza crust, and you will need a knife and fork to eat it due to it being crumbly. But the flavours work so well and it's such a wonderful texture- at only 109 calories per serving and zero carbs you will not be disappointed if you try it. 

Crust:

1 cup of cauliflower, chopped (can be frozen cauliflower)

1 egg, beaten

1 tspn oregano

1 cup of shredded mozzarella

1 clove garlic, crushed

Toppings:

Tomato Purée

1/2 can tuna, drained

1/2 red onion, chopped

6 small squares of mozzarella

1 tblspn cubed avocado

1 tblspn capers

1 large tomato, chopped

Handful of olives

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, and grease a baking tray

2. Rice the cauliflower by putting into a blender, or by grating. Be sure not to blend it for too long, you are aiming for a rice texture

3. Put the riced cauliflower into a bowl and cook in the microwave for 8 minutes

4. Mix in the beaten egg, oregano, mozzarella and garlic

5. Pour onto the baking tray and pat into a circular shape until it is about 1/2 cm thick

6. Bake for 15 minutes at gas mark 5

7. Take out of the oven, spread an even layer of tomato purée, leaving an inch gap round the edge

8. Layer on all other toppings with the mozzarella on top

9. Grill for about 3 or 4 minutes until the mozzarella has melted

Enjoy!

Toppings

Crust after baking with tomato purée

Pizza before grilling

I really want to try lots of different topping combinations like BBQ chicken, ham & pineapple, Sloppy Giuseppe,  so I am going to think of some clean ways of cooking these combos. You just need to make sure that the toppings you use are pre cooked as you only grill the toppings for a few minutes once on the pizza.

So next time you have a pizza craving, just get out some cauliflower and give this a go! 

Lucy x