When you're craving pizza but want to hang strong on the low-carb TV dial, this is a reasonable alternative.
It's very simple. It's got a pizza taste. The crust is total cheese, baked on its own and then topped, but I won't pretend it's like having a thick-crusted, chewy, authentic old-world Italian pizza. If I did, Tina Radcliffe would go all cement shoes crazy on me and I'd have to go to confession and it would be a mess, mess, mess!
So as it is, it's got great taste, it keeps you on your diet, but I'd have to eat the whole pan to call it a meal. And that might defeat the purpose. But the kids wolfed it like a crew of mad dogs, underfed. It was pretty funny!
Crust:
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. garlic
1/2 tsp. pepper
Mix together with mixer. Spread in 13 x 9" pan lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes, until crust is golden brown.
Cool for ten minutes. Sprinkle with garlic and parsley.
Top with marinara sauce, cheese, pepperoni. (I don't know if you can heavier with this because the crust is flimsy.... So if you pile things on, it will all collapse.) This was jarred sauce Bethy brought over and cheese from the 5lb. bag of shredded mozzarella from Sam's Club...
Bake for about 10-15 minutes until cheese melts and pepperoni crisps up slightly.
Let cool about ten minutes before trying to cut! The cheesy crust sets up nicely once it's cooled a little, and the blend of flavors is marvelous... but be careful, toppings can slide right off the "cheese" crust! Too funny....
And this is what we were doing at other times during the week!!! The big kids had a half-day on Halloween so we had a pumpkin carving contest... Oh my stars, what kind of babysitter turns a bunch of kids loose with steak knives???????
"Can I take him? And if I do, will I get in trouble because he's just a wittle, bitty, sweet baby!!!"
How stinkin' cute are they???? And how much fun (and mess!!!!) there is in my life.
God is good, all the time!
