Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Winter Fare...

When it's positively freezing outside... and believe me it has been here, how awesome is it to open the oven door and bring out (anything!) a beautiful pizza?  Oh yeah!  Well... About two weeks ago I was at my all time lowest weight... alright lowest ever since I was say... 40.  Lowest in a long time!  Then... I don't know, freak out binge fest!  So now I'm working to rid myself of those 6 insta pounds.  So why in the world would fresh mozzarella cheese be driiiiping down my chin?  Because my daughter Amberlyn came over this past weekend and made me this insane pizza where the crust is made primarily from... you are NEVER going to believe this.........CAULIFLOWER!  I'm not even kidding!  I was amazed and shocked and seriously doubtful!  But it was really good!  She is on a CSD (carb specific diet) so her crust had a little almond flour in it.  I don't have gluten intolerance issues (other than too much "gluten" results in the Pillsbury dough girl look) so I decided to change the recipe up a bit.  It was just as good... actually even better with a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese thrown in to help... ok let me show you the finished product then I'll tell you how I made it.  


Forgive the nastiness of my poor cookie sheet... it's been baked to death.  But look!  You'd eat that right?    Yeah you would!  Ok here's the recipe that Amberlyn brought, with my adaptations...

Serves two or three people normally but... I used my weight watcher tools to calculate this recipe... if cut into 8 squares each square equals 5 PP.  And two squares is really quite a bit.  So Dave get's 6, I get 2.

Crust:
2 Cups Cauliflower riced and wrung dry... don't worry, I'll splain later
4 egg whites
1/2 C all purpose flour (or almond flour if you are gluten intolerant) 
1/2 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder (I used a little minced garlic since I didn't have powdered)
2 T grated Parmesan cheese.  (I used the "fake" kind in the crust... you know... the powdered Kraft kind any self respecting cook would not find in their pantry :)  but I thought it would be best for the consistency of the crust.

Toppings:  These are what I used but let your imagination go wild here :)

3 oz cooked pork sausage
1 C finely sliced red bell pepper
2 finely sliced shallots
2 C sliced fresh mushrooms
1 C grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves finely minced fresh garlic
1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1/4 C pesto sauce
1 t Italian seasoning
1/4 C tomato paste, water added to thin down to sauce consistency.  Make more sauce if you want.
1 oz grated (real) Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Put your raw cauliflower into food processor and process until it resembles rice.   Place the "riced" cauliflower in a clean dish towel and squeeze moisture out.   Combine in bowl with egg whites, flour, salt, garlic powder and grated Parmesan cheese.

Now... the original recipe calls for Parchment Paper for the following instructions.  Do NOT use waxed paper!!!  Trust me :)  but second time around I realized that using two silpats (silicone baking mats) would work even better so that's what I did.  If you don't have silpats use PARCHMENT paper...

Place a large silpat on a baking sheet.  Spread the crust mix  onto it then top with a second silpat.  Press to spread thin.  Leaving the top silpat on and bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven.  Remove top silpat then Transfer crust from bottom silpat onto a plain baking sheet since you can't cut on the silpat.  Easier to transfer just the par baked crust than the whole finished pizza.  Bake an additional 5 minutes to help the top of the crust crisp up a bit.  Crust is thin not thick and doughy.  

While crust is baking spray a non stick pan and saute your veggies including tomatoes until softened and lightly caramelized  Now  add the garlic then the pesto.  Heat through.  Add the spinach at the end and stir to wilt.  Set aside.  Pre cooking the veggies removes excess liquid and makes baking time much quicker.

Spread crust with tomato sauce then distribute the veggie/pesto mixture evenly onto the crust.  Sprinkle with sausage then with fresh mozzarella cheese.  Top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake just until cheese melts, about 10 minutes.

Remove, cut... enjoy!  Weird but good :)  And like I say... use your favorite toppings.  This is just what I came up with as I rummaged through my fridge. 

So... I had two pieces and Dave had the rest.  Well... except for one small slice that I was supposed to eat but I didn't want to have to count any more Weight Watchers points so I threw it in the fridge  That was heroic let me tell you.  I could have easily woofed it down but... that's why I'm refocused on my diet... too much woofing!  I figured Dave would eat the leftover piece later.  This morning when I got up and hungry I opened the fridge to graze and saw that lone little piece...  Hmmm... wait.... flash of brilliance.... yes!  Pizza Omelette   I know I'm crazy but bear with me...


Bet you'd eat that too... unless you don't like spinach... that being the case... leave it out.

I took the left over slice of pizza and chopped it up... added two eggs and a little bit of water.  Then I thought I'd plump up the volume a little and threw in about a cup of chopped fresh spinach.  I just mixed it all together with a fork and poured it in a pan adding a little salt and pepper.  Cooked for a few minutes then added one additional ounce of fresh mozzarella cheese... moved skillet to my toaster oven and broiled the top until set.  Fold, serve... chow!  All that gooiness was 4 PP (weight watcher plus points)

By the way... these creations are dude tested.  Dave liked them too.  If your spouse/family is finicky or suspicious don't tell them about the cauliflower.  They will never know!  I have to admit... I would way rather eat a fat doughy deep crust pizza... no toppings necessary but the days of blind indulgence are over.  They must be balanced with  reasonable eating.  Sad but true!  :)  So recipes like this are a godsend.  Very tasty and satisfying.     

Ok... I really need to get off the couch and go to the gym!  In just a couple of weeks I'm going to TN to celebrate my sweet mama's 80th birthday.  I need to slim down a bit before I get there so I can plump up and then come home and slim down for another couple of weeks before I'm required to appear on a Hawaiian beach in a swim suit.  :)  What a roller coaster!

So... ciao!  

1 comment:

  1. WOW, U ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO---UUUUMMMMMM---HHMMMMMMMMMMMM
    PA

    ReplyDelete