Pizza with Rice Crust

We make pizza every Friday night and I've found this to be a nice change of pace from our usual wheat crust. If you have rice earlier in the week, make extra (you'll need about 3 cups) so you can use it for the crust.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice (you can use white, but it won't be as healthy)

2 eggs

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Pizza toppings (Except for the sauce and cheese, all of these are optional. And, I suppose you could even make the sauce optional as well):

3/4 cups pizza sauce (I just use spaghetti sauce)

1 cup thinly slivered red or yellow bell pepper

1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms

1 cup thinly sliced onion

1 can (2 1/4 oz.) sliced black olives, drained

4 oz. sliced pepperoni

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Cook rice according to directions . Scrape into a large bowl. Cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally with a fork.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In another bowl, beat eggs. Then add the eggs and cheddar cheese to the rice and mix well. Scrape rice mixture into a well-oiled, 9X13-inch pan and pat into an even layer.
4. Bake in oven until rice begins to brown around the edges, 15-20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, if you're doing vegetables on top, saute them in a little olive oil over medium-high heat until the mushrooms begin to brown and the moisture has evaporated. 5-10 minutes. (If you don't cook them until the liquid is gone, they'll make the pizza soggy.) Stir in olives and remove from heat.
6. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the baked rice and sprinkle with mozzarella. Place pepperoni or spoon vegetables over crust and top with parmesan.
7. Return to oven and bake until parmesan begins to brown.

My kids prefer just pepperoni, so I usually do half with vegetables and half with meat.