Friday, February 1, 2013

Sometimes the Magic Works. Sometimes It Doesn't

I'm trying with all my heart to keep my blood glucose level in control, and I've been pretty successful by eating a low-carbohydrate diet. I'm actually enjoying the challenge. For one thing, I feel better, physically, than I have in a long, long time. And I'm losing weight - around 28 lbs. so far.

But sometimes I just WANT to eat some PIZZA, which doesn't fit into my carb-budget. As I was surfing the Internet for some new ideas, I ran across several recipes for pizza crust made from - you won't believe this - cauliflower. The idea is to shred a half-head of cauliflower and microwave it for a few minutes to soften it. After it cools you mix it up with an egg, a cup of mozzarella, some Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. This makes a "dough" that you can pat into the pizza pan. You bake it to crisp it and then top with your pizza goodies and bake again.

So I tried it today.

Here's a picture of the crust before I baked it.


Here it is after the crust was crisped in the oven.



And here it is after it was topped and baked.


It looks yummy, doesn't it? Well, sometimes appearances are deceiving. The flavor was fine; I didn't think it had a strong cauliflower taste, although Dan took a bite or two and thought it did. But what was COMPLETELY WRONG about it was that the crust did not get crispy. I had to eat it with a fork, and even then the bites were limp.

What's the best part of a pizza? The crispy crust! I guess I'd just as soon do without as make this again. But I think I get an A for effort! I'll keep trying.

I don't mean to throw cauliflower under the bus, though. A couple weeks ago I did have a success with using shredded cauli as a substitute for rice in a fried rice dish. Dan thought it was good, but said he didn't think I should try to pass it off as fried rice. He said I should just call it fried cauliflower, and enjoy it for what it is.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My husband is diabetic so I am always looking for subsitutes for carbs too...but, as good as this look, I don't think I could even get him to try it lol Keep sharing if you find something that works! :)

Judi Clark said...

Absolutely you get an "A" -- nice series of pics documenting your effort... although I might add one of spitting the pizza back out after the first bite!

Anonymous said...

Well you gave it a try! Even without having a crispy crust it looks and sounds like something I'd like to try. Great that you shared the process.