{No Starch in My} Pizza

I happened to try out this recipe at the exact point in time when I needed something like this: it's simple to make, relatively quick, infinitely customizable, all of the ingredients can be kept on hand and I was starting a new job and was definitely at a loss for time when it came to cooking. And it's pizza. I mean for realz, who doesn't like pizza?

If you can't eat grains, you have to try this recipe, or even if you're just gluten intolerant or are trying to cut back on complex carbs, you should keep this recipe in your back pocket.

The most time consuming part for me is making the sauce. If you can eat store-bought sauce, that's even more of a time-saver. But we've found that pretty much all store bought tomato based sauces tend to be starchy, so I always make tomato sauce at home from fresh tomatoes. I adapted this pizza recipe from one that I found on this blog. And in this post, I'm including a recipe for basic tomato sauce and a recipe for white sauce, for those times when you don't have any tomatoes on hand, but still want pizza. (That's actually why I developed the white sauce recipe in the first place. Except I realized I didn't have any tomatoes after I had already made the crust.)

{No Starch in My} Pizza
serves 4-6
ingredients for the crust:
8 ounce package of full fat cream cheese (at room temp.)
2 egg whites and 1 whole egg
salt & pepper
garlic powder, dried basil leaves, dried oregano leaves
1/4 shredded Parmesan cheese
ingredients for the pizza:
1/2-3/4 cup tomato sauce*
4 ounces mozzerella cheese, sliced thinly
fresh or dried basil and oregano
your choice of toppings (we love black olives, spinach, tomatoes, etc.)

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9x13 baking dish.
2.) Blend the cream cheese with the eggs until smooth, then mix in dried seasonings to taste.
3.) Add Parmesan cheese and stir until combined, then pour mixture into the baking dish.
4.) Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let crust cool for 10 minutes before adding sauce, cheese and toppings.
5.) After the crust is done and cooling, raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
6.) Top the crust with sauce, mozzarella cheese and add whichever toppings are your fave. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

Simple Tomato Sauce*
makes 1/2-3/4 cup
2-3 tablespoons butter
4-6 medium tomatoes, chopped (depends on how much sauce you want!)
a small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper
basil, oregano (to your liking)

1.) Add butter and onion to a saucepan and saute over medium heat until onion is tender and starting to turn golden in color.
2.) Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic.
3.) Add white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Add tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium high.
4.) Once the sauce starts boiling, I usually turn the heat back down to medium and let the sauce lightly boil for awhile, so that most of the moisture from the tomatoes can evaporate.
5.) Once the sauce begins to thicken (after 10-15 minutes), add the seasoning to taste. Turn the heat down very low and let the sauce thicken.

**I never really measure anything when I make this sauce, I kind of just throw in what I have available, go on what feels right, and keep tasting it as I go along. It always turns out delicious; this sauce is almost impossible to mess up.

Simple White Sauce for Pizza
makes about 1/2 cup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp dried thyme)
salt and pepper

1.) In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5-6 minutes, or until translucent. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute longer.
2.) Add cream, lower heat to medium-low and cook for about 5 minutes, or until cream thickens and reduces slightly.
3.) Remove from heat and stir in any seasoning. Let sauce cool before spreading on your pizza.