Pizza…minus the bad stuff
25 Feb
One of the regular foods I missed the most doing LC was pizza. I loved eating pizza so much…but always felt horrible after eating it. After ditching wheat and feeling so much better, I thought I would try to give it a makeover and substitute the wheat crust for something low carb.
The first attempts at Paleoish Pizza were Meatzas, basically a layer of cooked ground beef topped with cheese, tomato sauce, veggies… These taste awesome but lack the delicate texture of the crustiness mixed in with the greasiness. I tried making cauliflower crust but that did not satisfy me.
Then finally one day, I stumbled on a recipe using one of my favorites: Coconut flour.
All you need is coconut flour, eggs, cheese and parchment paper. You can add flax seeds, italian spices, nuts, bacon pieces to it if you want.
Here is a video if you want to see how it’s done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWjp5QvjSMU&feature=player_embedded
You cook it for 15 minutes or until the crust goldens and add all your pre-cooked ingredients. Broil it for at least 5 minutes.
When I have this version of pizza, I just need 1 or 2 slices instead of a whole regular one. The dough is MUCH more nutritious. Coconut flour is low carb because more than half the carbs are fiber and fiber doesn’t raise blood sugar like sugar and starch. Coconut flour is needed in much smaller amounts than other varieties. It absorbs alot of moisture so you will need to use quite a bit of eggs and fats if you try baking with it.
This crust is higher protein, high fat and dramatically lower in carb than regular store bought which means it shouldn’t induce the scary post-meal hyperglycemia. It also has the benefit of being gluten free and very tasty. : )
Coconut flour can be purchased online and in well stocked health food stores. I make all kinds of sweet and savory breads, brownies and cookies with it.
The point of my post was to reassure you that you can still enjoy pizza on LC. I’ll admit it might sound a bit expensive and somewhat labor intensive compared to ordering out but the results are excellent and it’s much better for you. When you stop thinking about price and focus more on value, I think it’s a bargain. Enjoy! And please share any of your LC pizza or crust recipes.
I’ve got a whole bunch of recipes on my site. Click and enjoy.
: ) thank you for the link! Some of those recipes look awesome.
Nice forum too!
Hi Erika,
From reading through your blog I get you were doing 811 before switching to paleo/primal eating. I would love to hear more about it. How long have you been 811? How were you doing on 811? When and why did you switch? How long have you been eating paleo style? How do you feel?
I was doing 811 for just shy of a year now and felt good on it but didn’t thrive. But the longer I went the more stomach trouble I got from all the fiber. I always felt bloated and my tummy sticked out like I was 9 months pregnant. The pregnant look didn’t go away overnight. It doesn’t matter how much or little I ate, I always had trouble afterwards. I switched to a vlc meat & egg diet 5 days ago. I am not new to this style of eating as I have been eating that way before switching to 811. The reason I switched to 811 in the first place was that I was eating lots of veggies and additional fiber supplements which didn’t help at all. On the contrary, it made things worse. Now I am doing a fiberless diet of only meat & eggs and I feel good so far. Sweet cravings but I guess they will go away after a while.
I’d love to hear your story.
Thanks
beefrunner
Thanks for sharing! I was going to order some coconut flour anyway, but wasn’t sure what I would do with it, yet. Pizza crust sounds divine.
What’s great about it is that a little goes a long way and the coconutty taste is VERY mild. I think you’ll enjoy. : )
Beefrunner, (great name btw!)
Your comment is beyond the scope of a comment imo.
I will do a post about this.
cheers!