I Made It Myself

One of the fun things about Facebook are all the great recipes you see that you want to try - the downside are either they don't actually come out like that or they're so full of fat and sugar you CAN'T go wrong. A friend of mine posted a No Bake  Two Ingredient Fudge over Christmas with the usual (annoying) blurb about How Her Family Was Amazed,  yada yada yada... I actually read the recipe and then posted back to my friend to see if she was aware that the two "ingredients" were a can of cake frosting and candy - seriously, what's not to like? I made another one of a baked cauliflour coated with some sauce with a yogurt base. The sauce was good, but the rest of it..plain hot cauliflour that was rather tough.  So when I saw the Cauliflour crust I was interested, but not too hopeful. I searched the internet and tried a variety of recipes - some tasted good but the big issue is the general soppiness.  Arrgh. 

So after some (alot) of experimentation I came up with a crust that has the consistancy of pie crust, tastes good and is a little higher in protein. No flour, no eggs, no cheese (that was the other problem - by the time I added all the ingredients I had....well, I had a crust with some cauliflour in it. And a lot of fat and calories - so here is my version :

Cauliflower Crust

1 head of cauliflour

-1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten (common binding agent for vegetarian, Whole Foods, Trader Joes and most grocery stores in the natural foods section)

-4 tablespoons Nutritional Yeast (adds a cheesy taste to foods, Whole Foods, Trader Joes and any natural food store)

-2/3 cup ground walnuts (flour consistancy)

Boil cauliflour until fork tender, drain and run cold water over to cool

Take a linen towel, dump the cauliflour in it and squeeze as much water out as you can (it will look like a while cake and will get really small!)

Put into a bowl, add the other ingredients, knead for a minute until smooth, pat flat into a pan that either greased and non-stick or greased parchment paper

Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes until firm and dry.

Cool

I used vegan italian sausage mixed with pepper and tomato sauce, parmesean cheese and then sliced mozzerella - the crust held and it was good enough for David the Super Non Vegetarian to not only eat, but go back for seconds