Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Let me start off by saying that colored cauliflower might be my new favorite vegetable. 

Its just. so. fun.

Yes, it really looks like this. 

In my box of magic this past week, I was lucky enough to get a purple cauliflower. 

Can we say stoked!?? 

I kept trying to find an awesome cauliflower recipe that would be fun to prep and that my veggie-phobic friends would actually eat. 

Then I was shopping and found a mini muffin pan on sale. 

So it was decided my cauliflower would be in mini muffin form. 

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tbsp milled flax seed 
• 1/8 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano + 1/2 tsp dried basil (or 1 tsp pizza seasoning of choice)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• whatever additional pizza toppings you'd like

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 425. Prep muffin pan for pizzafication (grease the cups, line with lines, whatever. The inspiring recipe says to use silicone or foil liners... I just greased my mini muffin tin with some EVOO and it ended up turning out fine. No sticky mess for me. )

2. Wash cauliflower and break into smallish segments. Steam the cauliflower. 

...before...         and        ...after...

i LOVE the color change! So much purpleyness! (thats a word, right?)

3. Drain out all of the excess water. You may want to try pressing it with a paper towel (I let mine sit in the fridge over night so it kinda drip-dried). 

4. Place cauliflower and flax seed in a food processor or high speed blender and pulse until it reaches a rice like consistency. (Mine was a little more gooey than ricey... perhaps a little too much moisture? After baking it ended up being fine.)

5. Mix cauliflower and other ingredients in a bowl. 

6. Spoon into muffin pan. Press the tops so that its compact and flat on top. 

Aerial view provided by the boyfriend... 

I asked him to take some pics for the blog and he turned into the dang paparazzi

7. Place in oven and bake for about 25 minutes. 

8. After 25 minutes, remove from oven and add your toppings. We used mozzarella, lean ground turkey (seasoned with Italian seasoning, garlic and lotsa lotsa pepper) and some parsley flakes for color. 

9. Place back in the over and cook for about 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown/bubble. (If you are opting for a topping free version, I'd say about 10 more minutes as well, just keep an eye on them) 

10. Remove from oven. Let them cool a little bit and enjoy! 

The finished product :)  

 I'm still in love with the purpleyness!

Things to note:

• Recipe adapted from here.
• I substituted flax seed + the water from steaming the cauliflower for the egg white, for a slightly healthier kick. Hello, Omega-3!
• I doubled the cauliflower, but not the cheese from the original recipe. Another attempt and making it slightly healthier.
• I personally would not consider this meal as a whole "healthy"... But it's a lot of veggies... and three veggie-phobes said they liked it... and it's yummy.So I'll allow it.
• Very easy to make this meal vegetarian.... I'm not sure about vegan though.  Even though there isn't that much cheese, it does help bind the "dough"... I'm sure someone more creative than me has some thoughts/comments on this.