These aren’t your mama’s leftovers!
It is hard to imagine that I could wake up hungry after we had cooked everything but the grand old flag the day before, but it was a new day and last night’s menu items were but a distant memory.
Scrounging through the fridge, I encountered the remaining pork tenderloin slices. From there, it was easy to formulate a plan.
I chopped up the pork, sweetened some mayo with Splenda, spread the white goop on a tortilla, layered in the succulent tenderloin, topped it with shredded cabbage, and added a few squirts of roasted red pepper pesto for dip and garnish. Fini — and quite bellisimo!
The boys were off to Mt. Ranier for the day, so Michele and I made our daily trek to Sur la Table (yes, they still had a few things we didn’t already own) and Pike Place Market. And we might as well go to Ross again. After all, it was on the way.
Somewhere along the line, we paid a visit to the booth in the Market where the woman sells gorgeous jackets made from recycled pop bottles. They’re soft and colorful, launder like a dream, and we each had only purchased two when we were in Seattle previously. I bought a spiffy new turquoise number. Michele chose a gorgeous red, and I bought two of the warm, fuzzy, really cute hats. In July. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and I was able to actually comfortably wear the jacket. Putting on a hat, however, might have caused alarm among my companions, so I refrained…reluctantly. They really are cute hats.
There are many restaurants in and around the Market and along the route back to our condo, and we shopped until well past the noon hour, but after discussing the option of dining out, we concluded the food would be far better if we prepared it, so we trudged back, laiden down with all manner of packages and bouquets, to concoct something yummy. (Lest you think we were being egotistical about our culinary talents, I must say that it is like slander — truth is a defense.)
There is a point on the hunger scale where the needle moves from “I’m hungry” to “OMG, I’m starved, if I don’t eat soon I will pass out.” We were almost there. It was essential that we ingest something fairly quickly so our blood sugar wouldn’t take a dive.
As you know, however, we couldn’t be content to fashion a simple sandwich, because that would deprive us of the photographic opportunities we so dearly craved. Hmmmph. We were stumped for a couple of minutes, then the sky opened up and the choir sang “Tortilla Pizzas!” Don’t you love divine inspiration?
This was going to be fun, because Michele had never experienced these exquisite thin crust pies and the endless variations to which they lend themselves. Quick! Preheat the oven to 410 degrees. Thank your lucky stars that you fried up some Italian sausage early morning. Slice a little of it, chop a little of it, and throw open the refrigerator to go on a treasure hunt for additional ingredients. There on the shelf was the holy grail of pizza-making components — leftover Four Bit Goodie mix!! For a different twist, we also had basil pesto and roasted red pepper pesto. These were going to be awesome!
I showed Michele how to brush the tortilla lightly with olive oil. Spread on a thin layer of the Four Bit Goodie mixture, putting grated Italian cheese either under or over the mixture. I divided my pizza into four quadrants and used slightly different ingredients on each — figs, Italian sausage, red onion, peppers, tomatoes, arugula, parsley, basil. Ding! The oven’s “I’m now preheated” bell went off, and in went the pizza. It was done in minutes. (I didn’t count, but it was fewer than 10. The aroma let me know it needed to be checked, and the appearance (especially of the lightly browned bottom crust) let me know it was ready to eat.
You cannot imagine what a supreme sacrifice it was to stop and take a picture before consuming the tasty little wedges of Italian perfection.
Michele was eager to learn (as well as eager to eat). After spreading on the cheese and Four Bit Goodie mixture, she decorated the pie with thinly sliced figs, colorful cherub tomatoes, red pepper slivers, red onion slices, and basil. It was a masterpiece!
We made several other varieties as well. After all, the oven was preheated, the tortillas and other ingredients were already covering the counter, and we were past merely being hungry. We were famished.
I can attest, from experience, that these palate-pleasing pies can make a quite satisfactory breakfast the day after. Problems of extinction, however, prevent that theory from being tested often.
The cute little pearl sized mozzarella balls from the night before made it onto some of the pizzas, too. We discovered that unless you place those on the pizza part way through the cooking process, they will simply melt into indistinguishable blobs. Good to know for future pizza-making parties.
You can see the little blobs of melted mozzarella below. 
Add your fresh herbs after baking — the color will be vibrant and the flavor will be intense. Here is one with basil pesto, Italian sausage, peppers, tomatoes, and fresh basil scattered about.
The boys had no idea what they had just missed. We figured, however, that whatever they were eating up on the mountain was going to be woefully deficient, from both a taste and appearance standpoint, so we got right back to work fashioning snacks to await their arrival.
Right after we had just a smidge of left over ice cream, that is. Sweets for the sweet, ya know…
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