Chicken Garlic Pizza on a Cauliflower Crust
Pizza?!? Yes, pizza and weight loss can be used in the same sentence thanks to the versatility of cauliflower. This grain free crust serves as the perfect base to hold all your favorite pizza toppings. Top with your favorite meat and vegetable, any combination works!
Ingredients:
- 20 oz. cauliflower florets (about 1 medium head)
- 1 egg
- 3 oz. hard cheese, shredded
- 8oz cooked chicken (or protein of choice)
- 8 oz vegetable toppings of choice
- 4 oz chopped tomato
- Italian Seasoning, to taste
- Sea salt, to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- Garlic clove, minced
Directions:
Break apart cauliflower florets, weigh out 20 oz. raw. Place in a food processor, ricer, or blender. Your goal is to mince it into a rice-like consistency. Place minced cauliflower in a Tupperware container and microwave for 8 minutes, let cool to the point that you can touch the cauliflower with your hands. Using a cheese cloth (Available for purchase at your local grocery store, Target, or Wal-Mart), you will squeeze out all excess liquid from the cauliflower. TIP: place cheese cloth in bowl, scooping small increments of cauliflower at a time into the center of the cloth, squeezing all liquid into the bowl, repeat until finished. Your cauliflower should resemble almost a dough-like texture. Add in egg, 1.5 oz. cheese, Italian seasoning, sea salt, black pepper, and minced garlic, then stir.- Place a pizza stone or baking sheet in your oven, and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. On a pizza peel or cutting board, place a piece of parchment sprayed with non-stick cooking oil.
- Form the dough into a ball and place it on the parchment-lined pizza peel or cutting board.
- Place a second piece of sprayed parchment on top of the dough ball and roll it out into a circle about 1/6-inch in thickness.
- Carefully transfer your dough to the hot pizza stone/baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until the dough is golden brown. Carefully remove it from the oven. (See picture below)- Add fresh chopped tomatoes all over crust, add cooked chicken and veggie toppings. If you prefer softer vegetables on your pizza, you may want to lightly sauté first.
- Sprinkle remaining 1.5 oz shredded cheese over pizza.
- Bake for another 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling slightly. Remove your pizza from the oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes before slicing to make sure that the crust stays intact.
Servings: 4
Replaces: 1 protein serving*, 1 vegetable serving*
Variations and Notes:
For Level 1: increase the recipe above to 12 oz meat and 5 oz cheese
Vegetable: All vegetables in this recipe are based on raw weights. There are 32 oz of raw vegetables, replacing 4 vegetable servings. If your menu calls for smaller vegetable servings (such as Balance Menu) reduce accordingly.
*Recipe may require adjustments for protein servings – check your menu for reference.
