New Take on Mexican Pizza

It's been a crazy week.  Between scraping the grass off of our future garden site and prepping for my friend's bridal shower, dinner has been on the fly, quick and simple.  Last night, however, it rained!  Glorious, glorious, wet, cooling rain.  Rain that washed away any guilt I may have felt for not going outside and working in the garden.  Soul cleansing rain.  Rain that created the opportunity to stay inside and play in the kitchen.

Now, I'm sure by now everyone has heard of cauliflower crust pizza, the new rage in guilt-free indulgence.  I'm a sucker for pizza and being gluten-free, this has been my go-to craving crusher.  I'm also a sucker for Mexican food.  Or maybe I'm just a sucker for cheese (no wonder I've had a hard time getting, and keeping, the weight off).  Any way you slice it (pun intended), I love food that's bad for me.

Anyhow, as I drove home from work yesterday contemplating my dinner options, it dawned on me.  Black bean crust Mexican pizza.  SAY WHAT?  If it can be done with cauliflower, it can be done with black beans.  And it can be.

So here ya go.  Give it a try the next time you're craving pizza and Mexican.  It won't disappoint.

 



Black Bean Mexican Pizza
Makes 4 servings

Crust
1 can black beans
1 clove garlic
1 egg white
1 tablespoon gluten-free all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, blend black beans, garlic, egg white, and flour until completely incorporated and smooth.  Prepare baking sheet with non-stick olive oil cooking spray.  Smooth black bean mixture out over the baking sheet with a silicone spatula.  Spray the top of the black bean mixture with cooking spray and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and top with 1 cup of organic salsa, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, and your favorite veggies.  Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 

I topped mine with 1/2 of a ripe avocado, 1/2 cup of spinach, 1/2 of a tomato, diced, and 2 tablespoons of sour cream.  The nutritional information for this combination is as follows:

Calories: 262.8
Fat: 10.7 g
   Saturated: 4.9 g
   Polysaturated: 0.8 g
   Monosaturated: 4.1 g
Cholesterol: 24.7 mg
Sodium: 499.8 mg
Potassium: 589.2 mg
Total Carbs: 24.8 g
   Fiber: 8.4 g
   Sugar: 0.1 g
Protein: 18.6 g

*Nutritional information provided by SparkRecipe.com recipe calculator.