An Editor's Gotta Eat! My Original Recipe Pizza Salad

Confession: I love pizza, love all varieties of it with a great big “heart.” And I like to watch “Chopped” on the Food Network. And as you know, if you’ve seen this blog post from last year, Using Leftovers: My Original Recipe for Bloomin’ Onion Soup, the leftovers episodes from “Chopped” resonated with me, encouraging me to look for ways to transform leftovers into something new and appetizing. After all, an editor’s got to eat, right?

Today’s experiment, Pizza Salad, was a success! I’m going to share the steps with you so that you and your family can enjoy this dish too. (Photos follow.)

First, you take your leftover pizza out of the fridge. We had thin crust cheese pizza. We turned the pizza into croutons!

Preheat your oven to 300°F.

If you have a pizza cutter, you can quickly cut the leftover slices into small squares or diamonds. Otherwise, a knife will do.

Spread the pizza croutons out on parchment paper and slide into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. If your leftover pizza has a thick crust, you may want to add baking time, perhaps for a total of 45 minutes.

When time is up, remove croutons from the oven. While they cool, start preparing your salad. For our salad, I used iceberg lettuce, homegrown tomatoes, turkey pepperoni, shredded colby jack cheese, and Wishbone western sweet & smooth dressing. You can determine how much of each ingredient to use or whether you want to change the ingredients to suit your personal pizza preferences. (Balsamic vinaigrette may be another good dressing choice, but I didn’t have any on hand.)

This is a fun and easy way to use your leftovers and stretch your food budget. “Ciao” down!

1. Leftover Pizza

2. Start slicing pizza with pizza cutter or knife

3. Cut into crouton-sized square or diamond shapes

4. Bake in preheated 300° oven for 30+ minutes, depending on thickness of pizza

5. While croutons cool, assemble your pizza salad with your favorite lettuce and pizza toppings

6. I used iceberg lettuce, small homegrown tomato slices, turkey pepperoni, shredded colby jack cheese, and Wishbone western sweet & smooth dressing. The pizza croutons were the final touch!

Using Leftovers: My Original Recipe for Bloomin' Onion Soup

Leftovers—rarely as good the second time around—help stretch the food budget. The budget-conscious parent will want to serve the leftovers until they are gone. The kids may pout and put up a fight. So what's a frugal parent to do? One idea is to make those leftovers seem more appealing. You can transform leftovers into something new, something the kids might not even recognize as leftovers! 

I had heard of re-fashioning leftovers into different dishes, but my eyes weren't completely opened until I saw an episode of "Chopped" on the Food Network where the chefs had to incorporate leftovers into their creations. I was both repulsed yet fascinated at the same time! One of those leftovers on that episode was a deep fried onion appetizer, such as Chili's awesome blossom or Outback Steakhouse's bloomin' onion. One chef wowed the judges with the onion soup he made from the soggy leftover onion, and while I don't remember what he did, I was intrigued by the idea. As much as I enjoy a deep-fried onion, I hadn't had one in years. I couldn't stop thinking about that idea of bloomin' onion soup, but how was I going to get my hands on some leftovers?

Then, last week my daughter and I had the opportunity to get a free bloomin' onion with any purchase at a chain restaurant. So we took advantage of that deal, enjoyed our meal, and came home afterwards with about half the onion left. 

This is what I did. It was quick, easy, and turned out delicious. Don't let its appearance deceive you. 

Ingredients:

The Soup, minus two servings and sans cheese

Leftover deep-fried onion, chopped into small-ish pieces

Optional: additional fresh chopped onion (if needed for more servings)

Minced garlic, amount determined by quantity of soup (1/2 - 1 tsp)

One can chicken broth (reduced sodium is good)

1/2 cup Coke or water (I like cooking with Coke)

sliced provolone cheese

Place chopped onion into a large microwaveable bowl. Add the chicken broth and other liquid. Feel free to add more if you want a soupier soup. Cover and microwave on medium for ten minutes. Ladle hot soup into bowls and top each bowl with a slice of cheese. Let it sit until the cheese is a bit melted. Will serve about 4, depending on how much onion you brought home and how much liquid you added. 

NOTE: If you like what you found here, check out my latest leftover success: pizza salad made from leftover pizza! Link: Brenda's Pizza Salad

Brenda's Meaty Baked Beans

Brenda’s Meaty Baked Beans

Description:
These baked beans are made in a crockpot and can serve as a side dish or as a casserole. A big hit at potlucks and picnics!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (or jazz it up with 1/2 lb. ground chicken & 1/2 lb  ground sausage)
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 cans pork 'n beans
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp mustard
1 small bottle ketchup
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp powdered onion
Dash worchestershire sauce


Directions:
Brown the meat with the onion. Drain and add to crockpot. Empty the cans of pork 'n beans into the crockpot. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together. Cook on low for 4 hours.

(Optional: instead of using the crockpot, you can bake this for an hour at 350 degrees.)

Brenda's Cheese and Bacon Potato Slices

Brenda’s Cheese and Bacon Potato Slices

Description:
Like baked potato skins, but so much easier to make!

Ingredients:
Four small red potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp crushed rosemary
Dash black pepper
Shredded cheese of your choice (we prefer colby jack)
Real bacon pieces

Directions:
Heat up deep fryer, and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Deep fry for 4 minutes. While the potatoes are frying, mix the next 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Remove potatoes from fryer. Pat dry on paper towels. Next, get out a baking sheet. Brush each side of each potato slice with the olive oil mixture and arrange on the baking sheet. Top each slice with the preferred amount of cheese and bacon. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Don't burn your fingers when you dive into this appetizing appetizer!

I Won a Sam's Club Recipe Contest!

SHRIEEEKKKK!!! *jumping up and down*   Looky what I just got!!!

Brenda,

First of all, we’d like to thank you for your participation in the Sam’s Club “Fresh, Fast and Fabulous” Cookbook Contest. That being said, we have some good news to share…

CONGRATULATIONS! You recipe entry has been selected by the judges as one of our GRAND PRIZE WINNERS! The prize you have won is a holiday meal package valued at $200. In addition, your recipe entry will be featured in the Sam’s Club “Fresh, Fast and Fabulous” Cookbook coming in 2012. The Approximate Retail value of the prize is $200. We have attached the Official Rules for complete details.

...

Thank you, and again, congratulations on behalf of Sam’s Club.

Sincerely,
The Sam’s Club Team
Amie Throndson
Social Manager

• •  I sent them my original recipe called Brenda’s Delightful Dreamsicle Cake, an easy microwaveable dessert that I invented a year ago! They will probably take my  name off the recipe, *briefly sad* but I won I won I won! *jumping up and down, screaming, hoping the neighbors don't hear me and rush over or call the cops!*
    
    Update: Not only did they NOT remove my name from the recipe, they interviewed me and added my photo and thoughts about my cake! They changed the name to Orange Dream Supreme Cake. The actual prize was a $200 gift card to Sam’s Club.