Superbowl Pizza

So last weekend was the Superbowl, with all the high cal cheesy, greasy, sugary, sweet, and delicious snacks tumbling out of bags and bowls across the nation I had to arm myself with something to ward off the cravings to indulge.

I was super lucky to run into Lyn's at "Escape from Obesity" reciepe for cauliflower pizza. Not only is it a great stand in for popular party snacks, but it is low carb so it fits my diet perfectly. I had to cook some up, here is how it went:

Cauliflower Pizza

 1 cup of mashed cauliflower
 1 cup mozzarella cheese
 1 egg
 Pizza spices (parsley, oregano, garlic, basil, red pepper and marjorum)

 1/4 cup marinara sauce
 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
 1/8 cup onion
 1/4 cup mushrooms
 10 turkey pepperonis

 First you should boil or steam some cauliflower. I used frozen cauliflower because it was convenient.

After your cauliflower is soft (you may want to over cook it a touch to make sure the stalks are soft too) you can use a potato masher, food processor or potato ricer to mash the cauliflower. 2 cups of non mashed cauliflower is about equal to 1 cup of mashed cauliflower.

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You want it to be coarsely mashed to small pieces not mashed to mush

To the cup of mashed cauliflower add 1 egg and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. I used low fat to cut out some calories.

Mix it up and add your pizza spices to flavor.

 Spread your mixture thin onto a greased pan. You can use something like pam, or I just used a piece of parchment paper (NOT WAX PAPER).

If you want a thin crispy crust spread your mixture very thin, the thicker the mixture is the softer and more pillowy your crust will be.




Bake your crust in a 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. You want it to get a little toasted and brown around the edges to make sure it is crispy.

Add your toppings. Remember there is already 1 cup of cheese in your crust, so go easy on the cheese on top of the pizza.

Then set the oven to broil and place your pizza back in the oven until the cheese melts.

You can also bake it however that will make the crust softer, if you only broil it you will have a more crispy crust. You can eat the pizza with a fork if you want, but if you cook the crust right you can also hold it up like a real piece of pizza.

Talk about the perfect snack for the Superbowl. Here's the calorie rundown:

Whole Pizza:

1 cup cauliflower (62.5 cal)
1 egg (54 cal)
1 1/3 cup low fat mozz (273.3 cal)
1/4 cup marinara sauce (35 cal)
1/8 cup onion ( 7 cal)
1/4 cup mushroom ( 7 cal)
10 turkey pepperonies ( 41.2 cal)
Total : 480 cal

WOW. Most a personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut or almost any other pizza joint will be at least 590 calories, and it would only be 6". I have a whole 12" of personal pan pizza I can enjoy and not regret the next day. Now it wasn't 100% the same as digging into a deep dish delivery pizza, but it was pretty dang close - close enough to enjoy at least. There is something completely satisfying with making something you like and being
able to enjoy it because you know its good for you.