
Leftovers?
You bet! These days anything and everything can grace the top of your pizzas and I LOVE that I can give leftovers a second life. You just have to be discerning about the flavor combinations.
I really wanted to clean out the fridge. I had the ingredients to make pizza dough and I imposed a rule that I had to use what was in our house and could not run to the store. (I laugh because after this experiment I stumbled across an article on MSN.com which tackled this very topic... Easy Meals Using Random Food Already in Your Kitchen.) Here is a list of some of the ingredient contenders to give you an idea of what I had to work with.
NO TOMATO SAUCE!! That's right... no crushed tomatoes or real tomatoes to make my sauce.
From the garden:
basil (tons of it from the backyard!)
thyme
oregano
rosemary
mint
cilantro
From the fridge/pantry:
1/2 cup pineapple chunks (leftover from a fruit salad)
1/2 red onion
1/2 bulb garlic
1/2 container of pico de gallo
salad dressings: honey mustard, zesty italian, peppercorn ranch, balsamic, caesar
Condiments: mustards, mayo, hot sauce, BBQ sauce, pepper jam, fruit jams/etc.
1/2 package sun dried tomatoes
vanilla yogurt
baby romaine
a few slices of bacon
cheeses: limited amounts of mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan and cream cheese
croutons
1/2 jar peanut butter
1/2 jar almond butter
You might think this was a lost cause. There was a point when I didn't think there was ANYTHING I could make with this list, especially considering my husband's more selective tastes. Well, I did make two types of pizzas with the ingredients above. I started by making simple pestos and the inspiration came from there.
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Homemade Sun Dried Tomato Pesto |
Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, rehydrated
1 small clove garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T. fresh Thyme
1 T. fresh basil
Blend in a food processor until ingredients are a smooth paste. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to one week.
While I was at it, I made basil pesto too.
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Homemade Basil Pesto |
Basil Pesto
3 cups basil
5 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
1T almond butter
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Blend in a food processor until ingredients are a smooth paste. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to one week.
Both pestos were delicious! They may not be the purist's recipe, but I used what I had and it served my purposes just fine. I would make both again.
Once my dough was ready, I set out to make two pies.
Pie #1
BBQ sauce, spread thinly over the dough
red onion, thinly sliced
pineapple, thinly sliced
bacon, cooked and torn into bite sided pieces
mozzarella
cilantro (add after pie is cooked)
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Homemade BBQ-Pineapple-Bacon-Onion Pizza |
Pie #2
2 T Zesty Italian dressing, brushed over crust
Sun Dried Tomato pesto, spread thinly over dough
mozzarella
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Homemade Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pizza |
Bake pies for 8-10 minutes each on a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven.
All I can say is WOW! Why haven't I been making my own pies for the last 12 years? I seriously can't wait until the next leftover pizza night!!
photo credits: http://www.myrecipes.com, http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com, http://ciolofoods.com
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