Crustless Crockpot Pizza

The idea for this pizza is that you take all your pizza toppings plus sauce and cheese and layer it in a crockpot (or casserole dish) and cook it. It has no crust at all. Kinna like if you scraped everything off a pizza and just ate that. Sounds like a good idea.

I used: ground beef, Italian sausage, plain tomato sauce, spinach, mushrooms, banana peppers, olives, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and Provolone cheese. And I skipped the crockpot and just baked it in a casserole dish.

My opinion? Too salty! Gah! (Maybe the sausage? Or the olives?) And even though it gave the right pizza flavors, my brain knew something was missing. I wonder if it would be better if you made it with some zucchini, like the recipes for pasta-less lasagna?

I'd rate it a 3 or 4 out of 10. I might try tweaking it, but honestly I probably won't make it again.


Nutrition info from the original recipe site
Calories: 487, Carbohydrates: 7.6g, Fiber: 2, Net Carbohydrates: 5.6g, Protein: 30g, Fat: 37g

Cauliflower Crust Pizza (1)

The crust for this recipe for Cauliflower Crust Pizza is the same as the recipe for Cauliflower "Bread" Sticks, which I made yesterday, so I used the leftovers to try the pizza for lunch today. I just topped the leftover cooked "dough" with toppings and baked for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. (Because the crust had sat out overnight it was kinna cripsy, so that might be a different texture than the original recipe that is topped and baked immediately.)

The crust is just riced cauliflower, eggs, cheese, and seasonings - very simple to make. The texture is okay, but the flavor is a bit rich and salty. Though it's nothing like my favorite pizza from the local pizzeria, it is a good option for a low carb wheat free pizza. (And it's certainly better than Experiment Number 1!)  I'd give it a 4 out of 10.

Nutrition info
2 of 4 pieces (with only sauce and cheese) = Calories 284, Protein 24, Carbs 10, Fat 17

Where's the Crust Pizza

I'm on a quest for a low carb wheat free pizza. Attempt Number One was this Where's the Crust Pizza. To see the original recipe, go to the link. To read my adaptation (and opinion), continue reading.

"CRUST"
4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg
2 T. parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Pinch of black pepper

Whip all the ingredients with a hand-mixer.

I poured the "dough" onto a cooking sheet and spread it into a rectangle about 10X6. Then I baked it at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes and chilled it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. After it had cooled, I flipped it over and put the topping on the browned side so the other side would have a chance to cook more.

TOPPINGS
1/4 tomato sauce with a bit of Italian seasoning and garlic powder
3/4 C. mozzarella cheese
1/2 C. diced portabella mushrooms
12 pepperoni slices

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

MY OPINION

The main thing I changed was to cut the recipe in half and make it twice as thin as the recipe called for. This was a good decision....I think this would be really un-crust-like if it were thicker. Flipping the crust was also not in the original recipe.

Overall verdict: Sorta pizza-like, but I thought it was too "wet" to have a bread mouth-feel. It was good but far from great. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say it's a 2. So, I'm still looking for a good pizza recipe!

Nutrition info
2 of 6 pieces (with only sauce and cheese) = Calories: 326 Protein: 21 Carbs: 6 Fat: 25