Because we have been trying to reduce the number of carbs in our diets, especially from wheat, we don't eat standard pizza much anymore. At one point, we tried making some with a "crust" made with eggs and egg whites, but we didn't much care for it.
This version, made with shredded zucchini is pretty darned good, though. Just keep in mind that it is really a casserole, not pizza, and you most likely can't eat it with your fingers.
Here's the recipe we used:
- 4 C shredded zucchini
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/8 C Parmesan cheese (next go we're using mozzarella here)
- 1/2 – 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1/2 lb. ground beef or turkey (we much preferred pepperoni)
- 2 T dried, minced onion (we used a chopped quarter of a large-ish onion)
- 2 C spaghetti sauce (Ugh. We used two small tins of pizza sauce the first time. That might have been too much; using only one tin the second time seemed better.)
- 1 medium bell pepper, diced into small pieces [we used a quarter of a standard green pepper]
- 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1 C mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1/2 C extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided (I'm not too keen on cheddar cheese on pizza, but it was ok in the zucchini mixture. We used mostly mozzarella on the top.)
Begin by shredding your zucchini [bless the invention of food processors!]. Sprinkle the zucchini with salt – allowing the zucchini to stand for 10 minutes; squeeze out all the moisture. [Oops. we didn't squeeze the water out the first time we did this. Doing so made it much more pizza-like for our second attempt.]
Mix the zucchini with 2 eggs, 1/8 C Parmesan and 1/4 C mozzarella and 1/4 C cheddar cheeses. Add in 1/2 – 1 tsp. Italian seasoning. [I think we used some Tex-Mex at this stage]
Press the zucchini mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 glass baking dish.
Bake the “crust” uncovered for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. [ We discovered on our second try that a little longer is a bit better -- maybe 22-23 minutes. While the "crust" is baking, we cut up the onion and green peppers and sliced the mushrooms and pepperoni].
Remove the crust from the oven. [We let it cool for at least 30 minutes the second time. That works better than putting the toppings on right away.]
Then arrange the sauce, toppings, and cheese as you would for any other pizza. Here's a photo of what it looked like before we put the cheese on it. This photo is from our second try; it's vegetarian.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400 until the pizza is heated through and cheese is melted and slightly browned. This was the finished product:
Allow the dish to stand for 2-3 minutes before slicing and serving. [Actually maybe 10-15 minutes might be better]
It looks sort of like this photo from some other site, and it tastes great!