Ever make a little too much of something and then wonder what to do with the leftovers? Well, I had that problem earlier this week. I made pulled pork in the crock pot for barbecue pulled pork sandwiches. Thing is I made too much, and the container of leftover pork has looked me in the face every time I’ve opened the refrigerator door this week. I kept thinking I’ve got to find something to do with this leftover meat. It was good as sandwiches, but I wanted to try something different with it too. And I didn’t want it to go to waste. There’s so much food wasted in the world today, I really want to try to be a good steward of what we have.
In his infinite wisdom, my wonderful husband suggested pizza. My first thought was I’d never heard of any kind of pizza with pulled pork on it before. Sausage, Canadian bacon, pepperoni – yes, but pulled pork – um, no. But I took it as a challenge and tried to be creative with the leftover pork. I mean, why not on pizza? This was a lower fat cut of meat that tasted great with barbecue sauce. As such, my endeavor to make a barbecue pulled pork pizza was born and I went to work.
First came the crust. I’ve made homemade pizza now for a number of years. But this night I decided to try modifying my usual crust recipe. I decided to forego the all-purpose flour and instead use half white whole wheat flour and half bread flour. This would increase the fiber content of the crust and make a little better textured crust with the higher protein content of the bread flour.
For the sauce I went the easy route and used the barbecue sauce we had the other night for the pulled pork sandwiches. I know, it’s higher in sodium and sugar. But let’s be honest – most barbecue sauce is. Having it once in a while is okay to do, and it goes so well with the pork. I used just enough to lightly cover the bottom of the crust. Pulled pork went on next.
Selecting the other toppings was a little trickier – not everything goes with barbecue sauce and pork. I wanted to have some kind of plant-type foods on it – aka veggies or fruit – to make it a little healthier. And I wanted something my kids would enjoy too. I decided to try sliced red onion, pineapple, part-skim mozzarella cheese, and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. Here’s how it looked before it went into the oven.
I bake my pizzas at a fairly high temperature of 450°F for between 5 and 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on it by setting the timer initially for 5 minutes. After checking the pizza I’ll add another minute if needed, check again, and continue adding a minute and checking it until it’s done.
So how did it turn out, you ask? Very tasty is the answer. The red onion and pineapple made a delicious combination with the pulled pork. My husband and kids all liked it; and I liked it too. It was a fun, creative way to use up some of the leftover pork and still have it fit into an all-around healthy diet.
How about you? Do you have any unique ways you’ve used leftovers? I’d love to hear about it!