Keeping up with my latest diet – low-carbs-during-the-week, carbs-on-the-weekend, I decided to make myself zucchini pizza bites for dinner. Lots of recipes out there on making these that are mostly similar, but this is the one I used from an oven temperature and time perspective.
The add-ons are always up to the cook at hand, and like a normal pizza, each person has their preference. Being the one, the ONLY Heataholic, my preference is to maximize the spicy experience I get from my food. One thing I’ve noticed over the years on that front is the following equation – Heat+Heat=TONS OF HEAT!
You’re thinking – “Ok, Annoyingly Ostentatious Math Minor, what does that mean and what does that have to do with zucchini pizza bites?” Simple. It’s that when you cook with spice, i.e., heat it for an extended period of time, the intensity of this hotter-by-temperature spice is much higher than when you just add it on afterwards, where the spice itself will be at room temperature. So Heat (oven) + Heat (spice) will give you a much more heightened level of spice you wouldn’t get otherwise.
With my zucchini bites, I added both ground black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to both the base, cut zucchini (after I’d drizzled olive oil) and also a second round of crushed red pepper once I’d added the sauce and shredded mozzarella as you can see below:
And of course, once they came out (but before they cooled), I added a third round of crushed red pepper to take advantage of the hot temperature, before I let my bites cool down so I could consume them!
Spice on, my friends!
