I’ve been a pretty quiet on the blog the last few weeks. I’ve been trying to get my groove and keeps up on posts but then summer stepped in! Between the busyness and the viruses it’s certainly kept me off-line for the most part.
You know how “they” always say that “its” going around; well I certainly hope that none of you or yours were privy to the “it” that went around this summer. I have to say that was by far the most ill I’ve been in a very very long time. A freaky viral thing that threw my system into a turmoil and I decided to just give into it and let me body do what it needed to do so I could heal. So having come out the other side of that I am now playing the game of catch up with work and such and am thrilled to be vertical again!
As challenging as it can be at times being self-employed; this is one of the perks that comes with it. You can take that down time when you need or want to and just take a breath and enjoy those around you and to put into perspective what and who is really important.
It’s been a good summer in that there’s been times spent with friends, in and out-of-town visits and course once I was back at it I found my solace as usual in cooking.
So that leads me to this recipe and trust me when I say it’s insanely good! Awhile back I found a recipe that included “Riced Cauliflower”; which really is just graded cauliflower so that it comes out the consistency of rice. And it’s actually a really great substitute for rice with dinner and there’s so much you can do with it. For me I was looking for a way to make a meal out of my fully packed fridge of veggies. And at first I was leaning toward a loaded veggie Quiche similar to this one but using more veggies. Then I decided to try something different. I recalled a cauliflower cheese stick recipe I came across before (which I thought I posted but don’t see it right now)…sorry I digress 🙂 ….So I used that as a jump off point and wound up making Veggie & Cauliflower Pizza!
This recipe will do one smaller size pizza but don’t be afraid to double it up and put it in the fridge. Like many other things it’s just as good or better the next day if warmed in an oven. The micro wave works also, just it’ll be a floppy crust. 🙂
Ingredients
Crust-(about an 8 ” round”)
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower (see directions below) 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 3 tsp egg substitute or 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon salt Garlic powder to taste1 tsp dried oregano Olive oil
Toppings
Crushed tomatoes (or pizza sauce) Shredded Cheese and/or crumbled feta cheese Parmesan Cheese Your choice of toppings - as many or few as you'd like
“Ricing” Directions
1. Once you have the cauliflower cleaned and stems removed, chop it into small chunks. (One good-sized cauliflower will make at least 3 cups of riced cauliflower if you want more than 1 pizza. )
2. You can use a cheese grate but it does get a bit messy, so I suggested you drop it in your food processor and pulse until it looks like rice. You may need to scrape the sides from time to time you and stir it around by hand with a spatula to prevent it becoming over pureed as opposed to grainy.
3. Scrape the cauliflower out of the processor and into a micro safe bowl for about 10 minutes. Cover if possible so it cooks in its own moisture without adding water.
You can see here how it really does look like rice and has much the same texture.
Pizza crust Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Nothing wrong with square pizza if you don’t have a round cookie sheet or pizza sheet)
3. In a bowl, whip the egg, add the mozzarella and then stir in the 1 cup cauliflower.
4. Add garlic powder, salt, and oregano and stir well.Transfer the mixture to your cookie sheet, and pat out into a nine-inch round.
5. Plop it (plop…such technical jargon 🙂 onto the cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it as to not over cook as the edges will bring quickly.
6. Once removed from the oven set it aside to cool for about 15 minutes while you continue getting your toppings in order.
To make the pizza
1. Add sauce, toppings and cheese. I don’t pre-cook the veggies as I just cut them small so there’s a slight crunch to them.
2. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).
It cools quickly so I just let it sit 5ish minutes before serving.
Here’s a great way to save any of the left over sauce/crushed tomatoes you may have. Once frozen pop them out and Ziploc them and you’re good to go in a moments notice when you need some again!
Here I thought I was a genius coming up with this ….lol….helllllo there’s similar recipes out there; imagine that on the world of Google! 😉
Enjoy!
