Zucchini Crust Pizza

Since starting on South Beach, I think what I’ve missed most is eating something that has that “baked feel” to it. Unfortunately, traditionally baked items also tend to be high in carbohydrates.  When I came across this recipe on a blog I was really excited to try it, even though in my head I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the same. The direct link to the recipe is HERE. That is one of the best low-carb recipe blogs I have seen, she’s a low-carb genius!

Here is the recipe as shown on Cleochatra’s website:

Large raw zucchini, shredded (between 1.5-2 cups)
2 eggs
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (or pizza cheese*)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Grease cookie sheet.

Shred a large zucchini. Squeeze handfuls of zucchini to remove excess water. Add egg and cheese, and mix well (I always use my hands).

Spread the dough onto the pan evenly (watch to distribute evenly. The middle of the crust can be too thick, causing edges to brown and the center to remain thick) and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is cooked. Let cool/rest.

Makes a large crust (14")

I did make a few changes to it for my purposes, namely I used low fat mozzarella which greatly decreased the fat and calories present. Believe me, I need as little fat and calories as possible!

 

 

This was my “dough” prior to cooking. It was surprisingly very easy to work with. It looked like it would be all crumbly, but it held together really well.

 

 

 

This was how it looked after coming out of the oven. It looked so good I decided I would break off a little hunk before making the rest of the pizza. This was NOT a good idea. Because the edges got a little darker than the rest of the crust, the piece I tore off was a dark bit. It tasted terrible!  Feeling somewhat discouraged that my supper was not going to be all that great I soldiered on and made the rest of the pizza.

I just threw a little more low fat mozzarella on and some turkey pepperoni and popped it back in the broil setting. I would definitely recommend heating up whatever toppings you choose using the broiler as opposed to just baking some more. The broiler does a great job of browning the cheese and crisping up the crust a little more. 

x The finished product :-)

It turns out the dark edges were the only part of this pizza that wasn’t good (and they were my own fault as I cooked the crust about 5 minutes longer than it was supposed to be). I trimmed them off with the pizza cutter and dug in. It was so good! Honestly, if someone had served me this without telling me what it was, I would have never known it wasn’t regular crust. I would definitely recommend this if your craving pizza.