Guilt-Free Friday: Lower-Calorie (Dairy-Free) Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Man I'm happy I discovered the cauliflower pizza crust recipe.  I don't know what I would do without it!  But I got to thinking about the cheese in the crust, and how the pizza overall is, like, double the cheese that would be in a normal pizza... and that's a lot of calories... and I'm still trying to lose weight sooooo... Let's think about this.

After gaining some experience using flax eggs, I wondered if they would work as a substitute for the cheese.  Just extra binding capabilities, but less calories and better nutrients.  Win-win, right?  I only had to screw up once, and then it worked.  I ended up needing an extra egg, but in the end, it held up nicely, tasted great, and made a beautiful pizza!

I started out with 2/3 head of cauliflower, grated (with the handy-dandy food processor).  I let them sit in the oven for a bit to soften, while I made two flax eggs.  That's two tablespoons of flax seeds and 6 tablespoons of warm water, and the handy-dandy hand-held blender.  Just blend them up until they turn into fluffy goop!  Then I beat a real egg, pulled the grated cauliflower out of the oven, and mixed all of this together with some spices.  I took about a third of the mixture and pressed it into a circle on parchment paper on a baking sheet and stuck it in the oven.  It looked gorgeous when it came out, but when I peeled it off the parchment paper it all crumbled apart.  Boo.  So back to the leftover mixture, I beat a second egg and added it in, then pressed out another circle with half of the mixture, and baked it.  Voila!  It worked!  I let it cool on the side, pressed out the remainder of the mixture, baked it, and was left with two lovely pizza crusts!  Horray!  Pile on some toppings and pop it back in, and there ya go.  A pizza with fewer calories!  According to MyFitnessPal.com's recipe calculator, one slice of this crust is only 23 calories!  I'll take it!

So here's what you do:


1/2 head of cauliflower, grated or "riced"
2 eggs, beaten
2 flax "eggs" (2 tbsp flax seeds & 6 tbsp warm water, send through a blender until fluffy/goopy)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place cauliflower in the oven for about 5 min or so to cook it a bit.  Not sure how necessary this step is - I think it holds up fine if you don't cook it too.  You can make your flax eggs while you wait for it.  Combine all the ingredients together until you've got a goopy dough, and spread half the mixture on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes (until golden).

Let the crust cool completely, then pile on your toppings and stick it back in the oven for about 5-7 minutes, until everything is heated through.  Let cool a bit, then slice and serve!  The longer you let it cool the better the crust holds up too, if you'd prefer to hold it to eat it rather than eating it with a fork.  Enjoy!