Zucchini Crust Pizza

Can you seriously believe it’s October already? I know this girl couldn’t be happier that the weather is still fabulous and it’s officially my birthday month!! Okay, so maybe I’m not thrilled about the thought of turning 23, but who really is? Another year, closer to the 1/4 century mark. This whole getting up for work thing has really been an adjustment, but I’m making it happen. I’ve been waking up around 6am to get my workout in and then off to work I go. Real.Life.

So before I started living the hotel life. Pause, first I guess I should mention I’m on a client engagement in Newark, NJ for three weeks, this being week 2 of 3. It’s been hard to adjust to traveling everyday, not to mention eating out every single meal. At first, it sounds super cool, but then you realize how easy it is to order junk for every meal. Trying to eat healthy when everyone around you just wants chips and salsa and french fries is not fun. I have been doing my best, but I miss cooking for myself. I miss fun little weekdays where I could try new recipes and keep myself on track. Here is where this post comes in with my Zucchini Crust Pizzas. When I was on my little zucchini kick a few weeks ago, I decided to throw some ingredients together and make a pizza the healthy way. Knowing what is actually in the food I eat makes me so happy. I used totally normal ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, so why not give this a try? Unless you’re living the hotel life like me, it’s definitely one to mark for later.

Ingredients

Zucchini: 1 medium, shredded

Pizza Sauce: 1/3 cup

Tomato: 1/2 diced

Parmesan Cheese: 3 tablespoons

Mozzarella Cheese Shredded: 1/3 cup

Bread Crumbs: 5 tablespoons

Egg: 1, beaten

Oregano: 1 teaspoon

Garlic Powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Finely grate your zucchini and let it sit in a strainer with a dash of salt to release the excess water. This is what I typically do before baking with zucchini, but you can also use the microwave technique to achieve a similar result. If you would rather use a microwave you can set a cloth in a bowl, add the zucchini on top, and microwave on high for 3-5 minutes. When the zucchini has cooled, squeeze out the excess water. Either way works, just want to get the excess moisture out to create a crispier crust.

While this is draining, start heating up your pizza sauce. I whipped up a quick sauce by sauteing garlic in a skillet, adding a little sauce and fresh diced tomatoes. I love a chunky pizza sauce, so add you’re a little oregano, salt, pepper, and let it simmer while we move on to making the zucchini pizza crusts.

Mix the zucchini with parmesan cheese, mozzarella, bread crumbs, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and an egg. You can then decide how many mini pizzas you want to make. For this recipe, I divided the mixture into two balls and placed them on my pizza stone.

Can we please just admire my pizza stone I’m finally putting to use! Literally just took it out of the box, eek!! I feel super legit now. But seriously, if you just spray a cookie sheet, this will work just fine. Press the mixture into two crusts, making sure the edges don’t get too thin. You want your crust to bake evenly.

I first put these in the oven for 10-12 minutes to cook the crust a little extra. Then carefully pull your cookie sheet or pizza stone from the oven and add your fresh tomato sauce on top of each pizza crust and top with mozzarella cheese. These mini pizzas are ready to go in the oven again until the edges of your crust get crispy.

The pizzas will take around 5 more minutes after you place them back in the oven to melt the cheese and brown up on the crust. Lucky for you, these are best served hot, so no waiting is involved. I sliced these little thangs up and about 5 minutes later they were gone! New recipes don’t last very long on my plate. I mean, I’m just trying to perfect some recipes for all of YOU! 🙂

These pizzas will give you that flavor that you need with half the calories. You can still splurge on your favorite food items and stay in line with your nutrition plan. Why can’t we eat more of things that are good to taste and for the waist?

Where can I get more zucchini recipes at?

Mini Zucchini Pizzas

Baked Zucchini Fries

Skinny Chocolate Oat-Chip Cookies

Twice Baked Stuffed Zucchini