Meatless Meals Day 4: Pizza and Salad

So we all love pizza and salad right?  Well here is a spin on the tradition pizza buffet.  The major bonus here is that this meal is mostly all veggies and very little carbs!

Now if you are a follower of Pinterest then you may have seen the pizza I am about to share, cauliflower crust pizza.

I had to test it out for myself and I have to say I love it!  Next time I am going to try to get the crust crispier and use less cheese, but for now, this is how to create this delicious dish...

First for the salad.  I made most of the salad yesterday because I like the cucumbers and onions to marinate over night but that is optional.  This cucumber salad recipe is from my mom but I added a few more goodies to the mix.

Mom's Cukes n' Vinegar:

1 med. to large cuke, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
dash pepper
1/2 C. vinegar
1/4 C. Canola oil
Combine all ingredients. Cover and refridgerate til ready to eat. Serve with a draining spoon.

Then today I added sliced tomatoes and chopped avocado!

Now onto the pizza...

Makes a small personal pan pizza for one or two to share.  I made this pizza again tonight and I used the rest of the cauliflower (probably more than half a head of cauliflower ~ 2-3 cups) and I added a little more water and I used one whole egg and one egg white.  I also added a tablespoon of Chia seeds for added protein, fiber and omega-3s!  This time my pizza was bigger, about a small to medium sized pizza.  This pizza crust also took the entire 15 minutes to cook as opposed to the recipe below where the personal pizza only cooked for about 10 minutes.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese*
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Olive oil (optional)
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Other additional toppings of your choice

Directions:
To rice your cauliflower, take 1 large head of cauliflower, remove the stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor and pulse just until it looks like rice. Alternatively, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater.

Place the riced cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl, add 1/4 cup water, and microwave for 6-8 minutes, stirring half-way through.

To make the pizza, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan or cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Mine stuck a little, so next time I will use extra spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the cauliflower, mozzarella cheese and egg together and stir until well incorporated. Add the oregano, garlic, and garlic salt. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and shape into a 9-inch circle. Brush the crust with olive oil to help it brown in the oven.  I wasn't able to brush my dough, it just seemed to sticky, so I used my Misto spray. (What's a misto spray? Check out my recipe favorites tab to find out)

Baked at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, until the crust is browned and cooked through the middle. I only had to bake mine for 10 minutes but all oven vary.

Remove the crust from the oven, add your sauce, cheese and toppings. Place under a broiler at high heat until the cheese is melted and bubbly. (About 3-4 minutes).  The toppings I chose were mushrooms and red onions.  I sauteed these on the stove top while the crust was baking. I used fresh marinated cherry-sized mozzarella balls as my cheese topping. So yum! 

Allow the pizza to cool slightly, then cut into slices and serve.

Recipe from http://stickafork.net