As promised... Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I know it took me about two weeks of making promises to post my cauliflower pizza crust recipe on here, but I'm finally getting around to doing it! I blame my procrastination on prep for student teaching, and if I could sum up my experience in the classroom from the past three days I would say WONDERFUL! The class that I am with is so incredibly sweet, and I'm really loving all of the many hugs I get every day. I was with third grade last semester, which was so much fun, but they just don't think that random hugs throughout the day is cool. My very first day was eventful. It included a nosebleed, two crying spells, and.... a job offer to work in their extended day program! It's only part time, but it will be such great experience for me and will be the perfect addition to my resume once I start applying for full time teaching positions in about a month.

Anyway, back to food. I've been so lazy with food this week because every day when I get home I am literally exhausted. An 8:30 bed time is a pretty normal thing for me now. But when I made it home today, I had a big time pizza craving. I'm not exaggerating when I say I can't live without pizza. I have evidence from my "About the Author" page from a book I wrote back in first grade.

Pizza and I go way back. I get several cravings for it throughout the week. So I thought this would be the perfect time to finally give you the blog post I've been promising.

It's taken me a long time to get this recipe exactly how I like it. I had very many failed attempts at making cauliflower pizza crusts, but once I finally got it down, I started making cauliflower turkey burger buns, as well. It's pretty versatile, but it might take you a few tries to get it right. Be patient! It's super yummy once you get it! Play around with seasonings, toppings, etc.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

• 2 cups chopped cauliflower
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 egg whites
• 2 Tbsp oat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While it's heating up, put all of the ingredients in a food processor. I've mentioned this before, but I can't say it enough.... I love my Ninja! This thing really is the best blender/food processor I have ever had. It's easy to clean, and it takes me like a quarter of the amount of time to blend everything up as my old blenders.

Once you have everything in your blender, you want to make sure you get everything as smooth as possible. I hate getting big chunks of cauliflower in my crust, and it just cooks so much more evenly if the "dough" is reeeeeeeally smooth. 

For baking, I always use an iron skillet. It bakes more evenly on one, for me anyway. I grease it up with some olive oil spray, then pour in the cauliflower puree and smooth it own evenly with a spatula.

I start with baking it on the top rack for about 20-25 minutes. Depending on your oven, you might have to bake it longer. It might look a little crispy, but it's better that way because it gets the middle done the way it needs to be.

After that first time interval, take the crust out and add your toppings. I was lazy today because of practical exhaustion, so I didn't make my own sauce like I usually do. I topped it with Prego, sliced skim mozzarella, feta, turkey pepperoni, grilled chicken, and Parmesan cheese.

I then put it back in the oven on a lower rack, and bumped up the temperature to broil for about 3 minutes until the cheese was melted and it looked a little brown on top.

Transferring to a plate is kind of tricky, and I almost always have to use two spatulas.

And like I said, play around with seasonings and cooking times and toppings until you get it down to a recipe you like to use. I like using oat flour, but I've used self-rising flour before, and that helped it to get more done in the middle. I've also used half cauliflower, half broccoli before. It's pretty easy to add variations once you get the basic structure down.

As far as student teaching goes, I've just started working with a small group with some letter/sound work, so I'll plan on sharing some of that soon, as well as a fairy tale genre study I'm starting next week. Stay tuned!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go be a grandma and put myself in bed... at 8:15 p.m.

Happy baking!

Andrea