Tag Archives: low carb pizza

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Italian Inspired Recipes, Pork, Poultry, Recipes

White Pizza for a change of pace

Every once in a while, a body wants a packed-with-goodness pizza. That’s not always easy to do when you’re watching your carbohydrates. But it’s not impossible. You can use a couple of substitutes for the pizza crust that are pretty good, like chicken, portobello mushrooms, sliced eggplant, low carb tortillas, and this one I used for this recipe, a cauliflower pizza. Now, if you don’t like cauliflower, then choose one of the other options and just follow the toppings part of the recipe.

I made a vegetable-packed white sauce pizza. In this case the white sauce is simply an Alfredo pasta sauce. I used Classico because it is pretty low in carbs, but there are others that are also good for it. Check the jar and if it is around 3 net carbs per 1/4 cup, you’re in the ballpark. The taste of this is really great and the vegetables can be pretty flexible to what you like on it. Want it completely vegetarian, leave off the chicken and bacon, but it will have cheese. I’ve listed the carb counts for the crust separate from the toppings and the total combined as well. The crust is good for any pizza you’d like to make.

White Sauce Vegetable and Chicken Pizza

For the Pizza Cauliflower Crust
2 1/2 cups Cauliflower, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 Egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon Ground Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Dried Basil

For the Toppings:
1/2 cup Brussels sprouts, sliced or shredded
1/2 cup Mushrooms, pieces or slices
1/2 cup Kale, chopped or torn
1/2 cup Spinach, chopped or torn
3 tablespoons Bell Peppers, chopped
1/4 cup Onions, chopped
1 1/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese, shredded
1 cup Alfredo sauce (Classico)
1 cup Chicken Breast, cooked and sliced or shredded
2 slices Thick Bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F.)

Crust:

Put your raw cauliflower in the food processor and pulse until it resembles rice or couscous. Or you can grate it by hand with a food grater. Put the grated cauliflower on a clean towel (flour sack towers are great for this), fold the towel over the cauliflower and squeeze to get as much water as possible out of the vegetable.

Put the dried cauliflower in a bowl and add the parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, and dried basil. Mix in the egg, a dash of salt, and stir until completely blended. You can form it into ball at this point.

Put a sheet of parchment paper over a round stone or on a baking sheet. I used a baking pan lined with foil and it also works. Spray the foil with baking spray before you put the cauliflower in it. Shape the cauliflower dough into round pizza or a rectangle. Press it firmly together.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the crust is a golden brown. Pull it out and let it rest about five minutes, then add your toppings.

Vegetable Pizza

Prepare all the vegetables while the crust is cooking. Only the chicken and bacon are pre-cooked, although you can parboil the Brussels sprouts if you cut them in slices so that they aren’t too crunchy. Put them in a pan of boiling water for three minutes, then rinse in cold water and drain. OR put them in a bowl in the microwave for three minutes then drain.

Before the final cheese is spread and the pizza cooked.
Before the final cheese is spread and the pizza cooked.

Spread half of the Mozzarella cheese over the crust, then spread the Alfredo sauce over the top of that. Distribute the chicken and vegetables evenly over the crust and top with the bacon pieces. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella over the top and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Cut and serve. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Information per serving (crust and toppings):
Calories: 418 Fat: 26.2 g Net Carbs: 9.7 g Protein: 36.4 g

Nutrition Information per serving (crust only):
Calories: 92.5 Fat: 5.1 g Net Carbs: 2.5 g Protein: 8.1 g

Nutrition Information per serving (toppings only):
Calories: 325.8 Fat: 21.1 g Net Carbs: 7.2 g Protein: 28.3 g

Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Deluxe Ham and Cheese Pizza

Ham and cheese just naturally go together, don’t they? Everyone loves a hot ham and cheese sandwich, right? Well, I do. So a ham and cheese pizza is a no-brainer.   Especially if you are using one of LC Foods new low carb pizza shells. For those who believe that bacon makes everything better, you can add it to the pizza without adding any more carbs. (There will be calories, though!)

Disclaimer:  I am not paid by LC Foods to say good things about their products, nor do they send me any free samples to review them.  I got the notice this new product was available, just like everyone else on their mailing list and I bought it.   So this bit of enthusiasm for their pizza shell is strictly my honest opinion.  They are really good!  And I make a pretty good pizza crust substitute myself, but this is the best one I’ve tasted.  For one thing it is an honest-to-goodness yeast crust and it is sturdy.  Just like the real thing!  Two pizza- sauce-covered thumbs up from this girl!

If you are outside the shipping area (the USA) or just don’t want to order the shells, you can build these pizza on any pizza base you choose.  You can refer to the Flax Almond Pizza Crust or use the chicken-based pizza crust or the cauliflower pizza crust.  They will all work with it.  Just follow the instructions for the crust of choice to make and partially pre-cook, then add the sauce and toppings.

Deluxe Ham and Cheese Pizza

2 cups Ham, cubed
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese
1/2 cup Alfredo Sauce
1 cup Broccoli, chopped
1/2 Bell Pepper, diced
4 tablespoon Bacon, crumbled (Optional)
1 LC Food Pizza Crust or other low carb pizza crust

Preheat oven to 385 degrees (F.)

Put pizza shell on a cookie sheet and spread Alfredo Sauce evenly over the top. It should be a thin layer but still cover the entire shell. If it is a little short, add another tablespoon or two.

Precook the vegetables in a microwave for 3 minutes or sauté them in a skillet with 1 tablespoon butter until they are just tender.

Distribute the ham and vegetables evenly over the top of the sauce. Top with cheese sprinkled evenly over the top.

Slide the pizza directly onto the oven rack or place on a baking rack in the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. The crust doesn’t get really brown, so watch that the cheese is completely melted and just starting to brown. Remove from the oven. Let it cool about 10 minutes, then slice and serve. One slice is a serving; makes 8 servings.

Nutrition Info for 1/8th of the pizza (toppings only)
Calories: 158 Fat: 5.9 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 10.7 g

Nutrition Info for 1/8th of the pizza (LC Foods Pizza Shell only)
Calories: 131 Fat: 4.5 g Net Carbs: 2 g Protein: 13 g

Breads, Main Dish, Recipes

Rene’s Sausage, Pepperoni and Bacon Pizza


I am away from home this week — house sitting for my friends in Las Vegas, so this presents a bit of a challenge in my cooking plans. First test of the month – I’m facing another one later as I jet off to Arizona for a week with my bro and sis-in-law. “What challenge?” you might ask. “Finding some of those special ingredients that I order at home,” I reply with blinking eyes.

And here I am on a Wednesday craving pizza and I’m without either CarbQuick or Atkins flour, let alone any other low carb baking mix. But the Wal-Mart does carry Bob’s Red Mill Flax seed meal and almond flour. I like Bob’s almond flour because it’s a nice, smooth mill and is lighter, although higher in net carbs than Now’s almond flour. So, the thing to do here is to substitute the Carbquick in my recipe with the Flax meal and use the almond flour for Flax meal in the original recipe. The crust is an adaptation of two other recipes, but with my own twist on it. The bonus with this is that it’s also gluten free. The toppings are a mix of meat and veggies that blend well and really make a great meal. I must add that this is delicious! No, it doesn’t taste like a yeast wheat flour pizza crust, but it’s pretty darn good anyway.

If you’re counting calories, it’s pretty high at 559 a serving, so plan for it.

 

Flax-Almond Pizza Crust

3/4 cup Flax Meal
1/4 cup Almond Flour
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 Egg
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tblsp Olive Oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup Water

Topping

1 or 2 slices of Thick-cut Bacon, fried crisp
2 links Bratwurst Sausage or Italian Sausage
1/2 cup Broccoli pieces, fresh or frozen and cooked
1/4 cup Red Onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup Mushroom slices
2 small Sweet Peppers or 1/2 cup Bell Peppers, sliced
Pepperoni slices
1 tablespoon minced Garlic (optional)
1 cup Mozzarella or pizza cheese mix
1 cup Pasta Sauce (homemade or bottled)
Check for the lowest carb available. I have found a couple with the net carb of 5 g for 1/2 cup

Start with the pizza crust. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Mix flours and Parmesan cheese together with the baking powder, Italian seasoning and salt. Make a well in the middle and add olive oil and egg. Add 1/4 cup water and mix well. Add additional water as needed to make dough moist and pliable, but not runny. Let sit for about 5 minutes for meal to absorb the liquid.

Prepare pan by spraying or oiling a 12″ pizza round or a 9 x 11 inch rectangular pan or 10″ square pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the pan, press on top of the oil, then spray or oil the top of the parchment. If you use a silicone mat, just put it in the pan and spray it with cooking spray.


Parchment paper sticks to the pan if it has been oiled or sprayed with cooking spray.

If you use a stone, oil the stone, but you don’t need a mat or parchment although it makes it easier to get the pizza off. Use a spoon to put large spoonfuls of the dough on the pan in evenly spaced mounds. Wet your hands and pat the dough to as even a crust as you can get that fills the pan. It should be a little less than 1/4 inch thick.

Bake in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven.

While the pizza crust is baking, prepare your topping. Remove sausages from casing and fry in a pan until browned, but not cooked all the way through. Remove to paper towel to drain. Stir fry the vegetables until just tender.

When the crust comes out of the oven, assemble the pizza. Spread 1 cup of the pasta sauce over the crust, spreading it all the way to the edges. Spread the sausage and crumbled bacon, distributing as evenly as possible. Top the meat mixture with slices of pepperoni, about twelve to sixteen slices depending on the cut. Spread vegetables over the top of that and top with mozzarella cheese. Put back in the oven for about 10 minutes to finish cooking the sausage and melt the cheese. Check on the pizza at 5 minutes, then again at 10 minutes to see that it’s done the way you prefer and not overdone.

Cut into four slices and serve with a salad.


The recipe is flexible… don’t like mushrooms? Leave them off! Broccoli doesn’t thrill? Substitute something else or just omit. That’s the fun of pizza — it can be personalized easily.

Crust only information: Carbs for 1 slice of original crust: 1.9 g calories 178.6, protein 11.3 g
Carbs for Flax-Almond crust (gluten free) – 1.5 g calories 212.4 protein 11.6

Pizza with toppings above:
Original Crust: Total Carbs for 1 slice of pizza: 8.6 g, calories 525 protein 28.9
Flax-Almond Crust: 8.2 g, calories 559, protein 29.2

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 10/11/2012 1:10 AM