I was so excited all day because I was making that recipe and I couldn't wait to try it. Well, it didn't turn out like I had expected. It wouldn't stick together. I tried making 2 large pizzas with 4 cups of cauliflower but I could only make a large one and a very small one. Plus, it didn't stick together very well. I was sooooo disapointed!!! What did I do wrong? Needless to say, when my family ate the homemade pizzas I made for them, I was very, very jealous!!!

I hope you get an answer here because I was planning to try this tomorrow... Did you use egg whites or something to bind it together??

To know what you did wrong, you have to tell us what you did! You may have had liquid that needed to be removed from the "dough" before spreading out and baking. You may not have used enough cheese to bind the cauliflower together. What recipe did you follow?

I actually made it for the first time last night. I looked at a few different recipes and directions and I followed this one (for the most part).

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/...elieve-it.html

Mine came out pretty good. I used a whole head of cauliflower and adjusted the rest of the ingredient amounts accordingly. Because you microwave the riced cauliflower rather than steam/boil it, there is no need to strain it. (I actually tried to strain it but nothing came out). One thing I changed is that I used 2 parts of a reduced fat Italian blend of cheeses and one part shredded Parmesan cheese.

After it was done baking I cut the slices into 2" x 2" squares so there wouldn't be a problem with it sticking together. But I think it would have been ok without doing that. It wasn't crispy, but it wasn't soggy either. It was kinda in between. I think that later I am going to try to put in my toaster oven to see if it will crisp up when I reheat it. Regular pizza usually will get crispy when you reheat it in the oven. If that works, then I might just incorporate that technique into making this recipe in the future.

The end product was really tasty. It was like cheesy garlic bread. I did not put any sauce or extra cheese on it, because it didn't need it. In the future I might put some onion and mushrooms on it.

We can't have cheese on Ideal Protein in phase 1

But I do agree that we need to know exactly which recipe you used to figure out what happened - maybe there was a missed step?

I also made cauliflower crust pizza last night and used one head of cauliflower, one egg, a handful of veggie shreads mozzarella flavor, and a little extra liquid egg white and some spices. Instead of two large crusts I made four smaller ones and just flattened them on a greased cookie sheet and baked at 450 until they looked done. I just pulsed the cauliflower in my food processor til it looked like rice and mixed it all together that way.

In hindsight I should've used parchment paper because they did stick a little, but I was able to loosen them enough to flip them over then broiled a little more to try to get the other side crispier. Honestly, it was a lot of work and I won't be doing it again anytime soon, but they did come out pretty good, just not as crispy as I thought they would be.

I used this recipe:

Cauliflower IP Pizza #1 - 8oz protein + 2 cups Veggies
________________________________________
Ingredients:
Cauliflower, crumbled
3 cloves Garlic, chopped
2 eggs whites
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/4430615-post5.html
Pizza Toppings: Italian Seasoned Ground Turkey, Fresh Basil Leaves, Tomato Slices, Bell Peppers, Mushrooms, etc.
Optional: Veggie Cheese, sparingly (talk with your coach first)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
1. Combine cauliflower with garlic in a food processor and pulse until crumbly, being careful not to overmix (you don’t want it to become a paste). You can also use a box grater to shred the cauliflower.
2. Microwave cauliflower ~8-10 minutes, allow to cool slightly and squeeze out excess water.
3. Stir this mixture together with eggs whites and Italian Seasoning.
4. Form into pizza crusts and bake them alone for ~15-20 minutes (or until golden).
5. Meanwhile, prepare any toppings you want: brown meat, sautee veggies, etc.
6. Remove pizza crusts, add Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce, pizza toppings, and optional veggie cheese
7. Bake for another 10 minutes.

*You can use your puree as a pizza sauce!
*TWO pizza options available - either using your 2c veggies (for the crust and toppings combined), or alternatively below you can use an IP packet.
*Cauliflower Crust Inspiration Recipe: http://www.ahappyhippymom.com/2012/0...rb-recipe.html
*1 medium-sized head of cauliflower (~4 cups chopped) yielded me two large pizza crusts.
*The crispy edges of the crust were the best part, next time will try making little mini-pizzas to maximize that part!

So no cheese since we can't on ideal protein. I guess I should have put more egg whites and made only 1 large pizza. It didn't stick very well. And I will also use parchment paper next time. It was very time consuming...

Ok, I think I see why it didn't stick together. In all of the recipes I've seen for the cauliflower pizza, there is a large amount of cheese added into the "dough" mixture along with the egg. I think that is a big part of what keeps it together as a crust.

I made it last night and I definitely did NOT use cheese and it stuck together fine. My only suggestion would be to make sure you squeeze the excess moisture out of cauliflower.

It's definitely time consuming (but if you have an itch for pizza, it might save you from cheating!). The only things that I can think of that might have caused the problem :

1. Cauliflower particles too large or too pureed. Too big and they might not bind with the eggs. Too pureed, and it would be too pasty and watery.

2. Not squeezing enough water out of the cauliflower after microwaving it (too much water would interfere with the binding power of the eggs)

3. Not enough egg whites for binding.

I haven't tried this particular recipe myself yet, but I plan to - if I come across anything else that might help I will definitely post it here!

Really? Wow, I need to try it again w/o the cheese. How did it taste?

It might seem like that is true, but the egg whites are actually what "bind" the mixture together, not the cheese.

I enjoyed it. I used the red pepper puree and some ground beef as a topping. I did sprinkle some of the 0/0/0 nacho cheese popcorn topping on so that i had some flavor of cheese. My 3 year old liked it. I will make it again. After I phase off I will add some lowfat motzz to it.

I hope my kids are as receptive as yours! My 5 year old is not a fan of "cauli-rice" no matter how I dress it up for him :/

I am not going to lie to you...ONLY the 3 year old was receptive. The 10 and 8 year old were so on to me. They know I grind up spinach and put in everything but are OK with that only if it doesn't turn the food green. They know that cooked cauliflower fragrance and will not go near it.

My daughter loved the one I made... but then again it had a lot of cheese in it.