Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I'm one of those people who absolutely love pizza and I could really go weeks with just eating pizza! But as you may know, pizza isn't the healthiest choice of food and it's actually considered a "cheat-meal" (a meal you eat where upon you cheat on your diet. Many people get this once or twice a week to keep themself motivated). But what do pizza lovers who want to stay healthy do then? They make a cauliflower pizza crust! Having cauliflower in the crust makes your cheat meal healthier or, actually, makes it so it doesn't count like a cheat meal at all if you choose the right topping.

All you will need is for this cauliflower crust is:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 130 g mozzarella cheese
• 1 whole egg
• 2 tbsp carefully chopped almonds or rye flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp chilipowder
• ½ tsp dried rosemary
• ½ tsp dried oregano

+ What you want as topping

This may sound like a weird combination, especially to a pizza crust. But trust, it tastes incredibly delicious! Besides that it's tastes absolutely amazing, it's very easy to make! Just follow the following instructions:

• Heat the oven to 325ºC
• Wash and dry your cauliflower head
• You will only need the florets from the cauliflower, so now cut off the stem. 
• Put the florets into a food processer and run the food processer until the cauliflower is all mashed
• Put the Cauliflower mash into a microwave save plate (or like) and put it into the microwave. 
• Cook the cauliflower for 4 minutes
• When the cauliflower is done in the microwave set it and let it cool down for a couple of minutes
• When it seems cool take a clean tea towel and put the cauliflower on it 
• Now tight the towel around the mashed cauliflower and squeeze as much water as possible out of it. The less water the less crumbly and more chewy the crust will be
• Now mix the squeezed cauliflower with the rest of the dry ingredients. When mixed add the egg and mix again. Start out mixing with a hand food mixer and end up mixing with your hands (If you think the dough is slushy, pour in a bit more rye flour or chopped almonds)
• Take a large piece of baking sheet and spread out a thin(!) layer of cooking oil on it
• Put the dough on the oiled baking sheet and use your hands to form the pizza crust.  Make it the size you want your pizza, but make sure the crust is now too thin but neither too thick 
• Put the crust into the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until it starts to turn brown. Then remove it from the oven.  
• Now it's time to top your pizza and it's now you decide how healthy you want your pizza. You can choose to top your pizza like they often do at the pizza restaurant with loads of cheese and meat. This is the one that will be called a "cheat meal" if you follow a diet, because this pizza can contain up to 400 calories. If you, on the other hand, choose to top your pizza with vegetables as broccoli and tomatoes your pizza will, most likely, not contain more than 150 calories. That's something to think about, right? (But hey, don't feel bad about taking the unhealthy choice once in a while! Having a cheat meal to look forward to can give you motivation to keep it healthy doing the week!)

• When you've topped your pizza with your meat, cheese, vegetables, or whatever you choose of topping, put the pizza back into the oven for 5-7 minutes or until it gets the texture you want it to be
• Take out the pizza and let it cool down for a minute
• Enjoy your healthier cheat meal or healthy pizza!

Bon appetite! 

xx Emma