Zucchini Crust Pizza

Pizza is one of those foods everyone seems to like. Your favorite topping might not be my favorite -- pineapple, Canadian bacon, and mushrooms -- but I think we can agree that pizza is a treat to eat.

I have no complaint about regular pizza. I don't even care if it's deep dish or thin crust. I'll eat my fair share no matter what. But sometimes it's good to try something a bit different.

The other day someone gave me a whopper of a zucchini -- 6 pounds! Of course I scrambled to find things to make with it.

I love zucchini shredded and mixed with corn and red pepper, then mixed with eggs and a bit of flour and fried in tasty little cakes.

I have a terrific recipe for zucchini bread that people rave about.

And for the past year I haven't been able to get my fill of Zucchini Tots.

But I had a lot of zucchini to use up and so went searching for more ways to serve it. One delightful dish I found was pizza with a zucchini crust.

Surprisingly, it tastes exactly like pizza. It is very light. If you find regular pizza with its flour-laden crust difficult to digest, try this version.

I found this recipe on a Zone diet forum, so it is Zone friendly. Each serving is about 3 blocks if you include fruit for dessert.

If you're not on a diet of any kind, you'll still like it. Maybe even love it. Trust me.

Zucchini Crust Pizza

Makes 1 12-inch pizza
Serves 4

Crust
3 cups shredded zucchini
Salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup grated cheese
1tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
Sprinkle of dried oregano

Toppings
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 or 2 chicken Italian sausages, crumbled and browned
-or- 2 hot dogs, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle shredded zucchini with salt and let stand for 15 minutes. Squeeze out water.

Mix crust ingredients and spread on a parchment-lined pizza pan or cookie sheet. (Whatever you do, use parchment paper under the crust! Merely oiling the surface of the pan isn't enough; the crust will stick.) Bake about 20 minutes, or until top is dry to the touch and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and add toppings in order listed.

Return to oven (I raised the temperature to 400 for quicker results -- watch the pizza carefully!) and bake until cheese is melted.