By Trilby Goouch
Blogs Editor

Calling all gluten sensitive and carb conscious students: I’m happy to bring you a delicious alternative to pizza that requires few ingredients, takes 20 minutes and provides lots of nutrients packed into a cauliflower crust. You may have heard of the phenomenon through your pinning or cooking blog browsing; I know I did, but I always filed it away as something I would “one day” try, usually reverting to my go-to McCain frozen pizzas. I decided to finally put the recipe to the test and see if it could really cure my pizza cravings. The result? A pizza crust so crispy, cheesy and tasty you’ll forget you’re eating vegetables. As a bonus, there’s only 140 calories per slice!

Ingredients (serves four)
• Half a head of cauliflower
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of mozzarella shredded cheese for dough, ½ cup for topping
• 1 tsp basil, oregano
• 1 clove of garlic
• Pinch of salt
Directions
• Preheat oven to 450 F.
• In a blender, break up the cauliflower and grind into a fine texture; if you don’t own a blender, you can use a cheese grater to get the same effect.
• Microwave the cauliflower for eight minutes.
• Transfer to a bowl and crack in an egg, add your cheese and remaining seasoning and mix.
• Grease a pizza pan or flat baking tin and flatten contents.
• Bake 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, fry up some of your toppings if they need some extra browning; I fried the mushrooms with some olive oil for four-five minutes.
• Take out of the oven and add your topics of choice (ham is a great protein source since it doesn’t require any cooking before hand). Start with the sauce (I mixed canned pizza sauce with some pesto), then half the cheese, your toppings, then cover with the other half of mozzarella.
• Put your oven on the broil setting and broil for five-eight minutes.

Want to go gourmet? Here are some suggestions, adapted from one of my favourite restaurants, Il Fornello.
• Pear, onion, arugula, caramalized onions, walnuts and gorgonzola
• Tomato sauce, mozzarella, chicken/sausage/spicy salami, basil, red peppers
• Tomato sauce, mozzarella, olives, prosciutto, red peppers, artichoke hearts
Pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes, chicken and basil

You can eat this alone or serve with a light green salad with a simple olive oil and vinegar dressing.