Zucchini Pizza Crust

 Have you still got some zucchini?  A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a situation where I had a large zucchini to use.  I had already made a ton of Cheddar-Zucchini Fritters (which I froze and later re-heated; had some today and they tasted great!), Zucchini Pecan Bread, and Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies, and I was ready to make something that would use up the rest of the zucchini (which I was grateful to have, I should add).   

 I had several possible recipes, but began by grating the zucchini using my food processor.  As you can see from this photo, my food processor was full to the top!  Needless to say, when I looked at the small amount of zucchini in the zucchini pancake recipe I had been looking at, I quickly decided I needed to find a recipe that would use a lot of zucchini!  I remembered a zucchini pizza crust I had used previously and thought that was my best bet for using up a lot of zucchini.  

  

The recipe comes from the blog, Lauren's Latest, which I follow.  The crust uses no flour, so is gluten-free.  It does call for a lot of cheese (which I happen to love).  Depending on your choice of pizza toppings, this pizza can be fully gluten-free.  As you may imagine, I made more pizza than we needed immediately, so I took a risk and froze most of it, hoping the crusts would not be soggy after being frozen.  I am happy to report that the crusts turned out just fine, even after being frozen.  The crusts do not have the same stability as one that is made with regular flour dough, but that is understandable.  And they are delicious!

 Ingredients

4 cups grated zucchini (skin and all)

1/2 tsp. salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese, divided

2 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

3/4 cup pizza sauce

any desired pizza toppings

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray 9 by 13 glass dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Grate zucchini and measure out 4 cups.  Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 10 minutes.  Ring out zucchini to remove any excess water.  Mix together with pepper, eggs, 1 cup mozzarella, 1 cup cheddar cheese, and parmesan cheese.  Stir to combine and spread evenly into prepared baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with pizza sauce, remaining cheeses, and any desired pizza toppings.  Bake for 15 more minutes and remove.  Cool 5 minutes before cutting and serving.  

 Put 4 cups of zucchini in colander; sprinkle with salt; and let stand for 10 minutes

 Couldn't get an action shot as I do not have an extra set of hands.  Using a kitchen towel or paper towel works great as you can squeeze to get rid of extra moisture.

 As mentioned previously, I was making a big batch (multiplied the recipe by 3 as I recall).  Also, as this came together at the last minute, I did not have mozzarella.  I used extra cheddar and it worked just fine.

 Mix together to combine

 I made many pizzas - all freezer friendly using aluminum pans

 The crust looks great after coming out of the oven

 I used some good quality jarred spaghetti sauce that I had on hand

 I happened to have ham and peppers, so diced them up and threw them on top

 Add the rest of the cheese and if you like, you can sprinkle some oregano or Italian seasoning

 And then it is ready for the oven again

 Delicious!

 

I cooled the pizzas, put them in freezer bags, and stored them in the freezer.