Cheese-crust Pizza
From the kitchen of Alicia Wingren
Crust Ingredients--
2 eggs
1 8oz package cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, brought to room temperature
1 cup Parmesan cheese - shredded or grated
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper
Toppings-- (it's important to precook since the pizza doesn't bake long)
Pizza sauce (Muir Glen is our fave)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
8 oz. sliced pepperoni
8oz package of sliced mushrooms (cooked until they reduce a lot)
1/2 medium sweet onion sautéed
1 green bell pepper, lightly sautéed
Instructions--
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, spices, cream cheese and Parmesan and mix well with a fork or spatula. Don't panic if the mix looks very wet and runny, it will firm up as it bakes. Coat a 9x13" baking pan with the coconut oil, then spread the crust mixture to cover the bottom of the pan. Place pan on a rack in the middle of oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until crust is firm and lightly browned. Remove baking pan from oven when crust is lightly browned on top. Stand to cool for a few minutes. It is normal for the crust to shrink as it bakes.
Increase oven temperature to 425°F.
Spread the sauce over the crust, then add toppings of your choice (vegetables need to be precooked). A nice thick bed of mozzarella helps everything stick together. We covered our pizza with a lot of pepperoni. Once oven has preheated to new temp, place pan back in oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbling and it looks delicious. Remove from oven and let stand a while; it will be too hot to eat for about 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy.
