Personal Invention

Coconut Bake Pizza Crust 

This recipe was not taken from any cookbook or website, this is my personal recipe. Having kids you always have to be innovative even in the kitchen. When you want to get them to eat the healthy stuff (carrots, sweet peppers, etc) it takes going beyond the norm.

The type and amount of cheese depends on your preference. I did not give measurements for this ingredient, also I know some persons love to do a layer of cheese before adding ingredients, so the choice is yours. Additionally feel free to use whatever ingredients you prefer. 

For this recipe homemade coconut bake courtesy my dad was used. However, feel free to use store bought, I have tried them with both and came out equally yummy!! Also you can prepare in a traditional oven/grill/convection oven. Personally have tried this with both traditional oven and grill and the end results were the same. 

Recipe: 8 Servings

1 coconut bake

4-5 strips of bacon (meat of your choice)

1 cup cooked ground beef (seasoned to taste)

Cheddar cheese (mozzarella can be substituted)

1 8 oz can of mushrooms

Sweet-peppers

1 large onion

4 oz of diced pineapple (canned/fresh)

Tomato paste (any flavour)

Instructions:

Before prepping the veggies cut the coconut bake in  halves (horizontally) to be specific. Next place each half onto a baking dish or pizza stone and place in a 350 degree oven for 10 mins. This gives the coconut bake a nice crisp before adding all the ingredients. This process can be done on a grill or convection oven as well, of course the time maybe less than 10 mins for different appliances depending on the temperature.

Whilst the coconut bake is in the oven, prepare veggies by dicing into smaller pieces, smaller will be better especially if you want the kids to enjoy it and not be picky. Drain all juices from the pineapple and set aside. 

Place a teaspoon of margarine into a pan and saute the mushrooms until it has a nice golden brown colour, remove from pan adding more margarine if necessary and place the cup of ground beef into pan. Add salt, black pepper and chives, cook until all the liquid dissolves. You want a grainy sort of texture for the ground beef not saucy as this would cause the coconut bake crust to absorb any liquids.

After 10 mins remove coconut bake from oven, this would be used as the crust of the pizza. Spread tomato sauce to cover the coconut bake halves, next layer ingredients one at a time. After placing the last vegetable/meat ingredient place into oven for a further six mins. For the bacon strips I usually cook them a bit util crisp in a pan then place strips as the final topping. 

I like to cook the ingredients a bit before adding the top layer of cheese. Finally add the cheese and place into oven for about three mins just to melt the cheese to your liking. Remove from oven and sprinkle oregano flakes onto the top of the pizza.

Let me hear from you the readers after trying it. Is it not one of the best pizzas you ever had and besides it is "Trini to D Bone" right?