Craving pizza but want to avoid all the dough? Subbing out traditional pizza crust for a cauliflower crust counterpart seems to be all the ‘it’ fad nowadays. However, many recipes are messy and the ‘dough’ doesn’t end up staying together. So instead of satisfying your cravings, you end up with a disappointing kitchen disaster.

With half the carbs and double the fiber of traditional pizza crust; we’ve figured out how to master an even healthier version of the cauliflower pizza crust that won’t fall apart.

Try the following recipe for this week’s #backtoschoolchallenge2015 #recipechallenge and upload your results to Facebook or Instagram to earn more points this week and #becomeyourelite.

Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza

  
Ingredients

  • 1 cauliflower head, roughly chopped
  • Cooking spray
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup pizza or tomato sauce of choice
    Desired toppings (mushrooms, tomatoes, basil)
  • Directions:
  • Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor until it’s the consistency of rice. Spread the riced cauliflower over the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until it’s tender and starting to brown just a little around the edges, about 15 minutes.
  • Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a large mixing bowl and add the egg whites, garlic, salt, pepper, 1/3 cups of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
  • Stir together until the mixture is sticky and uniform throughout.
  • Line the same baking sheet with a new sheet of parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray.
  • Transfer the cauliflower mixture to the baking sheet and use your hands to press it into an oval-shaped crust that’s about 1/4-inch thick. Bake in the preheated oven until it’s lightly browned all over and starting to turn dark brown around the edges, about 10 minutes.
  • Spread the tomato sauce over the lightly browned crust, leaving just a little room around the edges.
  • Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese on top, then garnish with the torn basil leaves, if you’re using them.
  • Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

Let the pizza cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve!

Hands-on: 25 min. Total: 60 min.

SERVES 2 (serving size: 1 pizza)

CALORIES 350; FAT 15.8g (sat 6g, mono 5.7g, poly 1g); PROTEIN 26g; CARB32g; FIBER 11g; CHOL 25mg; IRON 3mg; SODIUM 658mg; CALC 488mg