Fully-Loaded Cheesy Pesto Cauliflower Pizza! (GF / Paleo)

Happy Father’s Day! I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday and showin’ your dad all the love he deserves!

In celebration, I’m back with another recipe! A recipe that I am truly madly deeply 100% in love with.

Growing up, my dad and I had a tradition we called Pizza Fridays. Basically, we made a pizza for dinner every Friday. I was OBSESSED with Costco pizzas – the frozen ones that you just pop in the oven. (I wasn’t much of an actual cook back then – things have definitely changed.) I’m not sure what made them so delicious, but Costco pizzas were better than any other pizza I had ever tasted. I lived for Pizza Fridays. We’d get a plain cheese pizza and load it up with whatever toppings we wanted. Usually, my dad plopped every single leftover in the fridge on top of his side of the pizza, and I usually left mine plain or put some chicken on it. I was one of those kids who only ate plain cheese pizza. Veeeeeeery picky eater.

Anyways, fast forward to 2016. I pretty much never eat pizza because I can’t eat gluten or dairy. I honestly haven’t really missed it that much, but for some reason I had a strong pizza craving last week that I could not push aside.

Lots of restaurants nowadays serve gluten-free pizza, but just because it’s GF doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Sorry to burst your bubble, but usually they throw a ton of nasty shit into the gluten-free pizza crusts that make my stomach feel just as bad as if I actually ate gluten. Same with vegan cheese. YES, it’s available, but have you looked at the ingredients in most vegan cheeses? They’re normally not that great. (Except Kite Hill, which is BOMB.)

Enter: CAULIFLOWER PIZZA. Everyone and their mom has heard about it by now. Since diving into the cauliflower pizza world, I actually like the taste of cauliflower pizza crust better than regular pizza crust. It doesn’t make me feel gross and heavy after eating it, and if you put in the right spices, it has incredible flavor.

I decided to top this pizza off with some homemade pesto, but I still wanted cheese. If I’m gonna go out of my way to make a pizza, I’m going to add cheese! I have a not-so-secret obsession with cashew cheese. I cannot get over the fact that I like it better than regular cheese, and I love how you can easily customize it to create different flavors! For this pizza, though, I went with my basic, go-to cashew cheese recipe. It did not disappoint.

The best part of a pizza is the toppings, right?! It’s where you get to be creative! I put mushrooms, arugula, spinach, and cherry tomatoes on this one, but you can switch those out for whatever you want! You can bulk the pizza up with a protein like chicken, add more veggies like zucchini or broccoli, or you could even pop some pineapple on there for a sweet zing! YOU DO YOU.

This pizza requires making a few different “parts” (crust, cashew cheese, pesto, toppings), but it is so worth it. Everything came together beautifully, and the final result was infinitely satisfying. I INHALED this bad boy.

This is the perfect recipe to make with friends because everyone can work on a different part of the recipe, and each person can customize part of the pizza with unique toppings. There’s something so satisfying about a group effort. Perf for a family night, a girls’ night in, or a random party of 1!

 

Without further ado, HERE’S THE RECIPE!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust (GF)

Total time: about 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 cup fresh oregano, finely chopped
• 1/8 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• Dash of salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400* F.
2. Cut your cauliflower into small florets. Make cauliflower rice by processing the florets in a food processor. It’s easiest to do this in small batches.
3. Fill a pot with about an inch of water and bring to a boil. Add the riced cauliflower and steam for about 5 minutes. Strain the cauliflower and let cool.
4. Once the cauliflower has strained, grab a dishtowel, pour the cauliflower on top, wrap it up, and squeeze all of the moisture out. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. You want to get as much of the moisture out of the cauliflower as possible – this is what will help the crust stay in tact after it has cooked.
5. Add the cauliflower, eggs, almond flour, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into a large bowl. Mix everything together thoroughly to create the dough.
6. Spread the dough onto a greased pizza pan in a circle. Leave the crust about 1/2 inch thick.
7. Put the dough in the oven for about 20 minutes. While you’re waiting, get the rest of your toppings ready. I made the pesto and cashew cheese at this time and got my other toppings ready to go.
8. After about 20 minutes, take the pizza out of the oven. Add your toppings, and bake for another 8-10 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and EAT!

Basic Cashew Cheese (Vegan / GF)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soaked cashews (they don’t have to be soaked, but it’s preferable)
• 1/4 cup filtered water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• dash of salt
• 1 clove fresh garlic

Instructions:

1. Soak the cashews in filtered water for a few hours or overnight. Strain the cashews and get rid of the water.
2. Add all ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until the desired consistency is reached. Add more water if you want a thinner cheese, or a few more cashews if you want it thicker.
3. Feel free to add other ingredients to flavor your cheese if you want!
4. The cheese will last in the fridge for about 5 days.

Basic Pesto Recipe (Vegan / GF) 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup basil
• 1/3 + 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 large avocado or 1/2 small avocado
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Dash of salt

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor. Pulse until everything is blended. Add some filtered water if a thinner consistency is desired. Enjoy!

Pizza Toppings Prep

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup arugula
• 1 cup spinach

Instructions:

1. Add the coconut oil to a pan and sauté the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.
2. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
3. After the pizza crust has been cooked for the first 20 minutes, spread the pesto on top. Add the cashew cheese. Place the spinach, arugula, sautéed mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes on top. Put back in the oven until it’s ready to eat!

What’s your favorite kind of pizza?! Let me know if you try out this recipe! If you do, take a picture and TAG ME (@addicted_to_lovely)! Enjoy! XO