Zucchini Pizza - F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

A couple of months ago my neighbor brought me something yummy to try - she said it was called zucchini pizza.  As in, zucchini-for-the-crust pizza.  Before I tried the first bite I had little hope that anyone in my family would actually eat it with me.  Boy, was I wrong!  One bite and I was sold.  This stuff is fantastic.  Ironically, my vegetable-hater Kelsey loves this more than Olivia.  It's so good I had to blog about it.  It's one of my new favorites!  

Zucchini Pizza

4 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) Italian tomato sauce
1 medium green pepper, chopped
Any other pizza toppings desired

Directions

Place zucchini in strainer; sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 10 minutes. Squeeze out moisture.  

 Combine zucchini with the eggs, Parmesan and half of the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.

I was baking 2 separate pizzas - one for the veggie haters kids in our family, and one for the grown-ups.  Therefore, I used a smaller casserole dish and a pie pan rather than a large 9x13 pan.  Whatever you're using, coat it with cooking-spray and dump in your zucchini mixture.

Press it into the bottom of the pan like a crust, and bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 minutes.

 Meanwhile, prepare your toppings.  The recipe calls for Italian tomato sauce, but we used Italian-style diced tomatoes and pureed them.  The first time I made it there was too much water in the sauce, so this time I drained the tomatoes before pureeing them.  Then I found that I didn't have enough sauce.  I would recommend either using your favorite pizza sauce, or simply adding a little tomato paste to the diced tomatoes before pureeing them to thicken them up.

Cook beef (or turkey) and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Assemble your other toppings.  In addition to the peppers called for in the recipe,we used sliced mushrooms as well.  On the kids pizza we forgo the ground meat/turkey and just use pepperoni instead.

After 20 minutes, take out your zucchini mixture.  It should look something like this.

Add your meat and tomato sauce.

Then top with remaining cheeses.  Add additional toppings as desired.

Bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through.

This yields about 6-8 servings.  For our family, that means there's enough for dinner and some leftovers for lunch.  And in case you need to know, the original recipe as written is about 300 calories / serving.

How do you spell delicious?