Cauliflower Crust Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Update: At the time I posted this recipe I had no idea who came up with it but I got an email from Jamie VanEaton, National Low Carb Examiner at http://blog.yourlighterside.com/ who created the recipe back in 2008 and I just wanted to give her proper credit for it. You can find her recipe for this pizza on her blog here http://blog.yourlighterside.com/2008/02/i-cant-believe-its-cauliflower-pizza.html and in her national column here http://www.examiner.com/low-carb-in-national/cauliflower-pizza-crust-worth-its-wow-gold . Check it out she has a wonderful blog with lots of other awesome recipes.


Yesterday I posted about a recipe for a Cauliflower Crust Pizza that Deb from http://debwillbethin.blogspot.com/ told me about and I tried and loved it.  Actually I loved it so much that I made a new version of it for dinner tonight.  You can find the original recipe that I used at this link http://nevertheskinnygirl.blogspot.com/2010/10/cauliflower-crust-veggie-pizza.html and you can find Deb's version at  http://debwillbethin.blogspot.com/2010/06/pizza-pizza-pizza-no-wait-veggies.html  and she also has another post on questions she was asked about this recipe at this link  http://debwillbethin.blogspot.com/2010/06/pizza-questins-answered-here.html.  Here is the list of ingredients for the Chicken Alfredo version I made tonight.

Crust
2 cups steamed cauliflower, mashed
2 cups reduced fat mozzarella cheese
3 egg whites
Italian seasoning, sprinkled over crust before baking

Mix cauliflower, eggs and mozzarella cheese and press evenly on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkle with italian seasoning. Bake crust at 450 degrees for 15- 20 minutes or until browned. Remove from oven and top with ingredients.

Toppings
1/2 cup alfredo sauce
1 medium onion, sliced into chunks and sauteed
1/2 red pepper, diced and sauteed
1 jar of mushrooms, sauteed
2 rotisserie chicken breasts, diced
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Here is my pizza after baking the crust and topping with the ingredients and before I baked it:

(click to enlarge)

The recipe said to put the pizza under the broiler but I just continued to bake it at 450 degrees until the cheese was melted and browned. Remove from oven and enjoy.

Here is my finished pizza:

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Again I loved this pizza and 2 out of 3 of my kids gave it a thumbs up.  I also took a piece next door to my mom and dad and both of them loved it.  My dad even said he wanted me to give my mom the recipe so she could make him one.  I would say this is a keeper also and I will be making it again.

Now for the nutritional info for this pizza:

    (1/6 Pizza)

Calories 322

Fat         19g

Sodium   969mg

Carbs     16g

Fiber      1.6g

Sugar      2g

Protein    35g

I'm still working out the bugs with these kind of pizzas.  They are definitely healthier than eating a traditional pizza but they are still high in calories, fat and sodium.  I did substitute egg yolks in place of the whole eggs and I did use 2 cups of reduced fat mozzarella and 1 cup full fat mozzarella because thats what I had on hand.  Looking at the ingredients I used I see that the jarred mushrooms had alot of sodium in them so next time I will use fresh mushrooms to eliminate that.  Also the alfredo sauce contained alot of sodium but I'm not sure how to change that since there isn't a low sodium version of alfredo sauce.  I used a rotisserie chicken which also contained alot of sodium in it so next time I will cook my own chicken breasts so I can control that.  The cheese is also high in sodium and I did see a low sodium cheese but that means its still full fat but low in sodium, so I have to give up one thing for another.  Any suggestions for improving this recipe would be appreciated.