Cauliflower Pizza Crust (grain and gluten free!)

Apparently, I’ve needed a break from blogging. I had the opportunity last week to attend an online teaching summit, and it was great to learn new ideas (to spice up my classrooms) and also meet some of my colleagues who I’ve only known through email up until now.

A couple days ago, I made a pizza crust out of cauliflower—yes, you read that right! It was so good, even Joe liked it and he is the king of the whole wheat pizza crust (in our house). He even said he would eat it instead of his regular crust.

I didn’t make this recipe up, I just altered it to fit what I was looking for. After reading so many recipes for it online, I don’t even know who to give credit for it—but if you google cauliflower pizza crust, you’ll find a lot of options!

The standard ingredients are:

2 cups cauliflower (riced – which means that you steam it and then shred it into “rice.” I used the grater disc on my food processor but you could do it by hand if you wanted to)

2 cups cheese (shredded)

2 eggs

The ratio is often 1:1:1, but sometimes less cheese.

This is what I came up with:

2 cups cauliflower (measure after you “rice” it)

1 cup goat cheese (or daiya or rice shreds if you want to be vegan or dairy free)

2 tbsp chia stirred into 1/4 cup water (and let sit for 20 min)

2 tbsp oregano or pizza seasonings

Mix everything together and bake in greased pan for 15 minutes or until browned and crispy on the edges (I used a non-stick round cake pan). It really doesn’t make “dough” in the traditional sense, so you have to press it together and smooth it out in the pan. Flip it over onto a cookie sheet and continue baking till crisp (that time will vary based on how thick you make the crust). I baked it at 450 degrees, but next time I think I’ll lower that a little and bake for longer (so it will get crispier in the middle before the edges start to burn). After the crust is done, remove from the oven, add toppings, and broil till the toppings are done and melty.

*Edited to add: I have made it with both the chia and the egg now. It works great either way. It really does work best when you feel like you’re “over baking” it—it should be totally dark golden brown before you add toppings. Also, you don’t necessarily have to flip it! Sometimes I can’t flip it–or it would fall apart. Worst case scenario, you have to eat it with a fork…which is still just as yummy!

pizza2 — Finished product. The toppings are sauce, basil, goat cheese (you could use any "cheese" you want), and roasted red peppers.

This week, I haven’t yet “Made Something” (other than food). I got sidetracked yesterday by searching for my continuing education certificates from the past three years (since my American College of Sports Medicine certification is being audited). I found them (all in different places), but really, I could have used that time for many other things if I had just been organized in the first place! It also spurred me to search for new continuing education classes to take (for fun and for credit). Lately, I’ve been focusing all on food, which has been awesome, but now I’m leaning back toward my roots in exercise science. I think I concluded that I’ll do the personal trainer certification (totally unnecessary professionally, but will give me points toward renewing my Health/Fitness Instructor certification). Plus, it’s local and easy, and hopefully interesting.

All that to say…I have not made anything yet, but I’m going to repeat the photo project (with variations) with a new pic of my little babe. I have a desk for him (that I’m sure he won’t use) to put in his room in our new place, and the idea is to put up pictures of his summer there.