I love pizza. And I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without ever indulging, so I definitely do from time to time. But sometimes when I get a craving I don’t want to spend the points, so I had to come up with an acceptable alternative to hit that pizza spot. I’ve found a couple of different recipes to give me that pizza taste without breaking the calorie bank.

Here is my most recent foray…this was dinner one night for Scott and me. On the left is his pizza, more traditional, with a regular crust, sauce, mozzarella cheese and regular pepperoni. On the right is mine. Instead of a regular crust I used a Flatout Flatbread Wrap (Italian Herb flavor), my homemade tomato sauce, fat free mozzarella and topped with veggies. I bake the flatbread for a few minutes before adding the toppings, to crisp it up a bit. So yummy, and a huge difference in points: Scott’s pizza is 16 points while mine is only 3!! What a bargain! (and I’m pretty sure I actually ate 2!)

Here is another option, using a cauliflower crust. Cauliflower as a substitute for potatoes, rice and crust is becoming very popular and I can see why. It pretty well takes on the flavor of whatever you put with it. This crust is a little more time intensive, but a good replacement in my opinion. Buying the cauliflower rice helps to save time. You can steam it right in the bag in the microwave. The most important step is to then squeeze out as much moisture as you can, using a towel. Then I mixed in ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp basil, ½ tsp oregano, ½ tsp garlic powder, ¼ cup parmesan cheese and ¼ cup mozzarella cheese. Form the “dough” into your crust and bake for 8-11 minutes at 450 degrees. Then add whatever toppings you like, and return to the oven for another 5-7 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and slightly golden.

My next experiment is using something called Joseph’s Lavish Bread as the crust, we’ll see how it stacks up against these.

I hope these ideas can help you when you are dealing with a pizza craving! I am a firm believer in eating what you like. Like I said, I know I’m not going to make it through life never eating pizza again. What’s important is to find ways to satisfy that will keep you in balance. And allow for those indulgences every now and then.

Until next time!!