How did you spend your Black Friday? Were you crushed in a crowd of feral consumers, pawing your way toward deal after deal? Maybe you were lazing around the house, trying to recover from your food coma. Perhaps you were trying to bring back the old magic with food coma number two?
Me? I spent Friday evening make an ass of myself on the internets. What started out as a completely respectable online cook-off quickly spun out of control into a full-on hangout party. There were spontaneous cocktails, bad jokes, even chicken dancing. Amidst the mayhem, our three competitors, Amy, Lindsay, and myself, managed to make some pretty yummy dishes.
The challenge was to use leftovers as main ingredients. Each of us totally interpreted that in our own way. Amy created a beautiful breakfast recipe featuring eggs benedict, shredded turkey, and potato latkes. Lindsay’s dish was purely vegetarian. She made a beautiful southwestern style chowder, and a mouth-watering sweet potato souffle.
My entry was a little less classy. I went for the fat kid special, taking all of my favorite Thanksgiving leftovers and putting them on a pizza. This is HONESTLY my favorite way to eat leftovers from Thanksgiving. I’ll even make this pizza when it’s not Thanksgiving. That’s how much I love it. It can easily be made meaty, vegetarian, or vegan, depending on your toppings, so if you want to impress your favorite person on a special diet, make them this pizza.
Thanksgiving Pizza
Makes one medium-sized pizza
Ingredients (necessary)
- 1 medium whole wheat pizza crust
- 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
- 1/2 cup – 1 cup mashed potatoes
- 1 cup stuffing, squished into balls
Ingredients (optional, but highly suggested)
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup gravy
- 1/2 cup shredded/chopped turkey or tofurkey
- 1/2 cup monteray jack and/or cheddar cheese
Ingredients (more topping ideas)
- crumbled bacon or sausage (or faken bacon)
- sweet potatoes
- creamed spinach
- green bean casserole
- fried onions
Directions
- Start by pulling/rolling/coaxing the dough into a large round shape.
- Top it first with the cranberry sauce, making sure to get a nice thick coating across the whole pie. Next, plop on some dollops of mashed potatoes, followed by the stuffing balls, and the turkey (if you are using it).
- Drizzle some gravy over everything, than sprinkle on the cheese.
- You can incorporate any other Thanksgiving leftovers you like at this point as well. Try to make sure that everything is distributed in such a way that every slice will get a little of everything.
- Bake the pizza in a super hot oven (450 degrees or more), using a pizza stone or a pizza pan if you have one. If not, just use a baking sheet. We use our outdoor grill to give the pizza a real brick-oven taste. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on your pie, and take it out when the crust puffs up, browns on the bottom, and the cheese and toppings are thoroughly heated and melted. I like my pizza a little “well done”, so if you are like me, you can leave it in a few extra minutes.