Homemade Pizza, Hold the Carbs

When my last Foodler-ordered dinner-for-one ran me nearly $90, I resolved to cut back on delivery food in 2013. This means that, in order to satisfy my frequent cravings, I'm going to be making lots of homemade pizzas over the next 12 months. I've got a foolproof, low points plus pizza recipe that I'll share at some point, but clearing enough space in my tiny kitchen to roll the paper thin dough can be a pain in the ass. So, when I came across this carb-free recipe on the internet, I was excited to lighten it up with a few Weigh Watchers friendly substitutions and give it a try.

I only had 4 oz of fat free cream cheese in the fridge, so I did a 50-50 mix with the reduced fat cream cheese that I had on hand. Next time I'd use only the fat free cream cheese, that shaves off 1 point per slice, so that's how the recipe below is constructed. I was worried that the cheese "crust" might lack flavor, so I mixed in some garlic paste and a dash of salt and pepper. The crust smelled amazing while it was baking- so much so that my dog sat in the kitchen and whined at the stove for 25 minutes.

The finished pizza was delicious! The crust held up quite nicely, and I didn't have to use a fork to eat the pie. Did I miss a traditional dough crust? Maybe a little- I just love my carbs. But this pizza was not lacking at all in flavor. I'll be interested to see how this pizza reheats for lunches later this week, and I'll likely freeze a couple of slices to find out how it fares after defrosting. I can already tell you, however, that the cold slice I ate a few minutes ago was pretty darned tasty!

Cheesy Low Carb Pizza

Servings: 8 Serving Size: 1 slice Points Plus*: 5 pts

Ingredients

Crust:
1/2 cup liquid egg substitute
8 oz softened fat free cream cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese  
1 tsp garlic paste
Salt and pepper, dash each according to your preference
Cooking spray

Sauce and Toppings:
8 oz tomato sauce, canned and fat free
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
Crushed red pepper, to taste

25 ea turkey pepperoni
2 ea white mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp green onion, chopped
1 tbsp basil paste
1 cup shredded, part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees while you mix the cream cheese, egg substitute, Parmesan cheese, garlic paste, salt and pepper in a large bowl. I used a spatula to combine the ingredients, but a fork or spoon would work just as well. The mixture will be runny, but this will firm up when you bake it.

Coat a 9"x13" baking pan with cooking spray, and pour the crust mixture into the pan. Smooth out an even layer of the mixture, and then bake the crust for 25-30 minutes. The crust is going to shrink a little while it bakes, that's normal. Pull it out of the oven when it has browned lightly.

Turn the oven up to 425 degrees, and let the crust cool for a few minutes while preparing your toppings. I chopped up some mushrooms and green onions that I had hanging around, and pulled out some turkey pepperoni, basil and shredded, low fat mozzarella cheese. I opened a small can of tomato sauce and mixed in some garlic powder, onion powder, and crushed red pepper flakes. Use whatever pizza sauce you prefer, but keep in mind that a jarred sauce might increase the points plus value of your pizza since those sauces are often made with oil and added sugar.

Top the cooled crust with the tomato sauce, and sprinkle on 1/3 cup of the shredded cheese. Add the vegetables, basil and pepperoni (or whatever toppings you decided on), and then cover with the remaining cheese.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and let the pizza cool for at least 10 minutes, allowing the crust to firm up and making the pizza easier to slice and serve.

*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website