Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza

Holy crap.  If I had known pizza without crust/gluten/grains could be this amazing, I would have started making this stuff years ago and ditched the real thing.  I know.  Die hard pizza fans are probably slamming their laptops shut right now, giving me the hand.  I am telling you though, made this for my mom tonight who said upon tasting “whoa, absolutely delicious.  That was incredible, Brooke.”  Though she has liked my other recipes and remarked on them being tasty, her feedback hasn’t been this enthusiastic prior to tonight with this recipe.  I too was skeptical on biting the bullet and giving this one a go.  No longer.  I swear, try this.  You will be stunned, mouth watering as you consume the entire thing, and promptly hooked.

This recipe is grain/gluten free.  Its low in calories.  Loaded with flavor.  Also, you don’t need to follow the measurements to a T.  I improvised a bit myself and it came out incredible.  Make your measurements roughly what I’ve listed below but don’t worry at all about being exact.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower head

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup sliced bell peppers (I recommend red, yellow or orange peppers)

1/4 cup of red onion, sliced

A handful of fresh basil leaves, shredded

Pepper

Salt

Garlic

A sprinkling of onion powder, if you have it

About 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

A small ball of fresh mozzarella cheese

2 large egg whites

1 tomato, cut in slices

Pesto sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place half the cauliflower head (cut into chunks) in a food processor.  Pulse until finely chopped (like rice).  Pour out from food processor onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Pulse the rest of the cauliflower in the food processor.  Pour that onto the baking sheet with the rest of the finely chopped cauliflower.
3. Spray the cauliflower lightly with cooking spray.  Bake at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes.
4. While this is cooking in the oven, put the sliced mushrooms in a frying pan.  Cook on medium heat with a bit of coconut oil, butter or some other cooking fat.  Stir occasionally.  Cook these for about 5-6 minutes, until they turn light brown, look slightly rubbery and shrink a bit in size.
5. Remove the cauliflower from oven and allow to cool.
6. Slice up the bell peppers, red onion, and solo tomato on a cutting board.  Set aside.
7. Place the cauliflower in a clean kitchen towel.  Squeeze.  This is to get out a lot of the moisture.
8. Transfer the cooked cauliflower from the kitchen towel into a bowl.  Mix in the egg whites, olive oil, a sprinkling of pepper, a sprinkling of salt, a sprinkling of shredded basil leaves, some garlic, about 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, and about half the fresh mozzarella (broken into small bite sized pieces).  Stir all of this together.
9. Press the cauliflower mixture into 2 (8 inch) circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Coat the crusts lightly with cooking spray.  Bake them at 400 degrees F for 15-18 minutes ish.
10. Remove crusts from the oven.  Top with pesto sauce, mushrooms, peppers, onion and sliced tomatoes.  Finish off with the remaining leftover parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.  Sprinkle with black pepper and salt.
11. Bake for an additional 6-7 minutes, or until cheese melts.
12. Enjoy, fresh, hot from the oven.

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 more days.  Reheat before enjoying.